Wizard

The Sterling | home

Wizard

Wizards are masters of the arcane arts. Plain and simple they dish damage. They are great pitchers but don't make very good catchers. Wizards can dish more damage in a shorter period time than any other class in the game period. They also have the best travel spells and group travel spells in the game as well as some excellent recon and sight spells. The trade off is that you will constantly need to avoid taking damage. Wizards can not heal themselves, they do not many helpful spells that they can cast on others(invisibility, party teleports and O'Kiel's Radiation are exceptions) and they can not take much damge. Other pure casters have ways around taking damage, the powerful rune spells of the enchanters(not to mention their illusions which can be used to avoid problems) and the pets of the necromancers and magicians can prevent them from taking damage. Wizards however will have to rely on root spells as well as minor avoidance spells such as shadow step and fade to save their own hides.

Wizards are by nature scrawny little men who spent all their time studying spell books as children and have probably never even lifted a sword. There are very few weapons that you can use as a wizard and not much more armor. This is not as much of a restriction as you might think for wizards wish to avoid contact with their enemies as much as possible. At the early levels you will be able to stand toe to toe with monsters and get off your spells. At later levels however you will need to rely on fellow party members or the root spell to keep monsters off of you while you nuke them into oblivion.

As with other mage types wizards gain the ability to meditate at level 4, the ability to research new spells at level 16, the ability to specialize in a field of study at level 20 and the ability to dodge at level 22. This is standard accross the board for mage types and wizards gain no extra skills.

Life will be very difficult in the early going. You only receive 3 meelee points per level as compared to 5 for meelee classes. This means that at level 2 your piercing or blunt skills will max at 9(3*(level+1)) where a meelee class will max at 15. The gap only widens from there. The fact that you are only able to wear cloth armor at early levels(you will later gain access to higher level armor such as damask and gossmer). It is doubtful that you will ever buy cloth armor as you will need all of your money to purchase spells at the lower levels. I generally only buy new robes and collect all of my armor off of monsters. Being a mage type class you have the fewest hit points in the game.

Wizards saving grace with all of their problems is the power of their spells. However at early levels you will find that other classes can actually dish more power than you with their spells and can meelee better as well. This discourages many a young wizard and forces them to change to another class. Fear not however around level 20 the balance of power shifts and wizards begin to become one of the most powerful classes in the game.

By far the most important ability score for a wizard is the intelligence attribute. Higher intelligence equals more mana. I would suggest that all wizards spend as many training points as it will allow on intelligence. You will be left with 5 training points and I would spend those on agility. Higher agility makes you harder to hit just in case the monster does get near you. Some players put the extra points into stamina however stamina has less of an affect on your hit points than agility has on your armor class. More importantly it's better to not get hit than to have say an extra 25 hit points at level 50 when monsters will be hitting you for 150 points of damage.

Wizards however are all about their spells and let's review the different categories of wizard spells for a moment starting with their offensive spells:

One of the first lines of spells that you will receive as a wizard is the shock spells beginning with shock of frost. These spells are direct damage spells that will constitute the meat of wizard spells for a long time. They do not truly begin to blossom however until the level 20 force shock when they begin to truly show their power.

Another line of wizard direct damage spells is the bolt spells beginning with the level 1 frost bolt. These spells generally do more damage than a comparably leveled shock spell however they are unguided. These spells will fire straight in the direction you are facing. If you do not take care to aim well you may have just wasted some mana.

Wizards also have the ability to cast person based area effect spells beginning with numbing cold. These spells will damage every mob in your immediate area but will also generally cause them to turn and attack you. These can be useful at early levels when you are fighting 2-3 monsters however at higher levels you will not want to be hit and these spells will dissapear from your arsenal.

The last of type of wizard attack spells are the rain spells. These spells are area effect spells that center around your target. The trick to these spells is to target the tank in your party and cast on him. These spells can damage several monsters at once. They are generally not as mana efficient as direct damage spells however they can still be useful especially if you have a couple of wizards and a handful of monsters.

The second category of wizard spells is the wizard travel spells:

The first type of travel spells is personal travel spells. These spells begin with the level 4 gate that will return you to the place where you are bound(by the level 12 bind affinity spell). These spells are great for escaping if you are solo or if all of your party has been destroyed at lower levels.

At level 20 you will begin to get your personal gate spells which can teleport you to one of several locations throughout Norrath. Only wizards and druids gain these spells. They will drastically reduce your travel time.

At level 29 you will begin to get group travel spells. These spells are very useful as they can teleport your entire party to one of several areas of Norrath. These can be used not only to reduce travel time but also to escape death when things go bad deep inside of dungeons.

At level 44 you will be able to transport your party to alternate planes of existance. Only wizards gain these spells which will make you a highly desired class at higher levels. Alternate planes include elemental planes and other planes that will be added post release. These planes open up entirely new areas for high level characters to explore and they will need you to get them there.

The third category of wizard spells are their sight and vision spells. These spells begin with the level 4 see invisible and glimpse spells and grow from there. These spells will allow you to see invisible objects, see things through your targets eyes and even control tiny drones and see through their eyes. This category of spells keeps the wizard class interesting and are a very welcome addition to any spellbook.

The final category is consists of miscellaneous wizard spells. These are spells that don't fit into other categories. I will describe a few of these in the paragraphs below:

First and foremost are you defensive buffs. These can be cast on yourself only The first line you will receive is the shielding line of spells. These spells will increase your armor class and your hit points. Higher level variants can also increase your resistances. Later on you will receive leather skin style spells which will absorb a certain amount of the damage which would otherwise hurt you. In essence these spells grant you additional hit points becaues they absorb damage that you would otherwise take.

A very useful level 1 spell for humans and erudites is the sphere of light spell. This spell summons a light which can be placed in your inventory or hand and used as a light source similar to a fire beetle eye. This can be useful after you die because you might not have any money in the bank and may need a light source.

Level 4 will see the first of your root spells. These spells will hold your target in place. These are important for two reason. The first is in groups it will keep monsters from running away when low on health. The second is when soloing(and also in groups) because it will keep the monster at bay so you can drain your mana on it without having to take the punches. Higher level variants such as the level 20 enstill will root your opponents in place for longer periods of time.

Wizards also have a variant of personal mini teleportal spells such as the level 4 fade and the level 8 shadow step. These spells will teleport you a short distance away and are good to keep a monster from hitting you until the tanks can taunt him off of you or until it is rooted in place.

A useful spell at low levels is O'Kiel's Radiation. This spell creates a fire shield and is one of the few spells you can cast on others. This shield does very low damage at higher levels but the 2 points here and there add up slowly.

At level 16 you will be able to cast invisibility. This is another one of the spells that you can cast on others. This is a very useful spell even if you do receive it later than other mage types. This spell is very important for wizards as you wish to avoid contact as much as possible with unwanted opponents. Wizards are nothing without mana and it is a shame to waste your mana on an unwanted foe.

This is just a sampling of some of the spells you will see as a wizard. There are many more but generally they fall under the above categories.

So what race makes the best wizards? This is very subjective as there are several races which can fill the role nicely. Erudites are perhaps the most obvious choice as they have the highest intelligence. The disadvantage of erudites is the lack of infravision which can make life difficult at early levels. Dark elves are another fine choice for wizards as their intelligence is not much lower than erudites and their other attributes are a bit better. The problem with being a dark elf is the fact that being an evil race will make you less acceptable to the outside world. Gnomes are another race that should not be overlooked. Gnomes can tinker and create nice trinkets such as infravision goggles. Gnomes have very high intelligence and also have infravision without the disadvantage of being an evil race. They are a hard race to choose against. High elves can also fill in as wizards pretty easily however they are probably not quite as suited as the above three.

The most important thing to remember if you decide to create a wizard is that things will be very rough early on. Do not base your opinions of this class by it's capabilities at early levels. From level 1-11 you will not be able to hold your own with other classes. Your damage spells while nice are not much better than those of other classes(though your area effect spells can be useful in the right situations) and your meelee skills are a joke. Beginning with level 12 things will start to turn around a bit for your class and by the time you hit level 20 you will begin to come into your own. Anyone who doubts the viability of a high level wizard can be pointed to the fact that the first level 50 player in the game was a dark elf wizard by the name of Asmonius who made it to level 46 before the level 29+ spells were even in the game. He would have been able to level much quicker if he had access to the higher level spells had been in the game. Wizards are a very powerful class however they are also a very hard class to play. You will have to learn to hit without being hit and this can take time. In the longrun however you will be able to kill monsters faster than any other class in the game and in many situations will be able to destroy beings faster alone than any two other players of other classes could in the same amount of time.


	The Sterling \| home Bard \| Cleric \| Druid \| Enchanter \| Magician \| Monk \| Necromancer \| Paladin \| Ranger \| Rogue \| Shadowknight \| Shaman \| Warrior \| Wizard Wizard Wizards are masters of the arcane arts. Plain and simple they dish damage. They are great pitchers but don't make very good catchers. Wizards can dish more damage in a shorter period time than any other class in the game period. They also have the best travel spells and group travel spells in the game as well as some excellent recon and sight spells. The trade off is that you will constantly need to avoid taking damage. Wizards can not heal themselves, they do not many helpful spells that they can cast on others(invisibility, party teleports and O'Kiel's Radiation are exceptions) and they can not take much damge. Other pure casters have ways around taking damage, the powerful rune spells of the enchanters(not to mention their illusions which can be used to avoid problems) and the pets of the necromancers and magicians can prevent them from taking damage. Wizards however will have to rely on root spells as well as minor avoidance spells such as shadow step and fade to save their own hides. Wizards are by nature scrawny little men who spent all their time studying spell books as children and have probably never even lifted a sword. There are very few weapons that you can use as a wizard and not much more armor. This is not as much of a restriction as you might think for wizards wish to avoid contact with their enemies as much as possible. At the early levels you will be able to stand toe to toe with monsters and get off your spells. At later levels however you will need to rely on fellow party members or the root spell to keep monsters off of you while you nuke them into oblivion. As with other mage types wizards gain the ability to meditate at level 4, the ability to research new spells at level 16, the ability to specialize in a field of study at level 20 and the ability to dodge at level 22. This is standard accross the board for mage types and wizards gain no extra skills. Life will be very difficult in the early going. You only receive 3 meelee points per level as compared to 5 for meelee classes. This means that at level 2 your piercing or blunt skills will max at 9(3*(level+1)) where a meelee class will max at 15. The gap only widens from there. The fact that you are only able to wear cloth armor at early levels(you will later gain access to higher level armor such as damask and gossmer). It is doubtful that you will ever buy cloth armor as you will need all of your money to purchase spells at the lower levels. I generally only buy new robes and collect all of my armor off of monsters. Being a mage type class you have the fewest hit points in the game. Wizards saving grace with all of their problems is the power of their spells. However at early levels you will find that other classes can actually dish more power than you with their spells and can meelee better as well. This discourages many a young wizard and forces them to change to another class. Fear not however around level 20 the balance of power shifts and wizards begin to become one of the most powerful classes in the game. By far the most important ability score for a wizard is the intelligence attribute. Higher intelligence equals more mana. I would suggest that all wizards spend as many training points as it will allow on intelligence. You will be left with 5 training points and I would spend those on agility. Higher agility makes you harder to hit just in case the monster does get near you. Some players put the extra points into stamina however stamina has less of an affect on your hit points than agility has on your armor class. More importantly it's better to not get hit than to have say an extra 25 hit points at level 50 when monsters will be hitting you for 150 points of damage. Wizards however are all about their spells and let's review the different categories of wizard spells for a moment starting with their offensive spells: One of the first lines of spells that you will receive as a wizard is the shock spells beginning with shock of frost. These spells are direct damage spells that will constitute the meat of wizard spells for a long time. They do not truly begin to blossom however until the level 20 force shock when they begin to truly show their power. Another line of wizard direct damage spells is the bolt spells beginning with the level 1 frost bolt. These spells generally do more damage than a comparably leveled shock spell however they are unguided. These spells will fire straight in the direction you are facing. If you do not take care to aim well you may have just wasted some mana. Wizards also have the ability to cast person based area effect spells beginning with numbing cold. These spells will damage every mob in your immediate area but will also generally cause them to turn and attack you. These can be useful at early levels when you are fighting 2-3 monsters however at higher levels you will not want to be hit and these spells will dissapear from your arsenal. The last of type of wizard attack spells are the rain spells. These spells are area effect spells that center around your target. The trick to these spells is to target the tank in your party and cast on him. These spells can damage several monsters at once. They are generally not as mana efficient as direct damage spells however they can still be useful especially if you have a couple of wizards and a handful of monsters. The second category of wizard spells is the wizard travel spells: The first type of travel spells is personal travel spells. These spells begin with the level 4 gate that will return you to the place where you are bound(by the level 12 bind affinity spell). These spells are great for escaping if you are solo or if all of your party has been destroyed at lower levels. At level 20 you will begin to get your personal gate spells which can teleport you to one of several locations throughout Norrath. Only wizards and druids gain these spells. They will drastically reduce your travel time. At level 29 you will begin to get group travel spells. These spells are very useful as they can teleport your entire party to one of several areas of Norrath. These can be used not only to reduce travel time but also to escape death when things go bad deep inside of dungeons. At level 44 you will be able to transport your party to alternate planes of existance. Only wizards gain these spells which will make you a highly desired class at higher levels. Alternate planes include elemental planes and other planes that will be added post release. These planes open up entirely new areas for high level characters to explore and they will need you to get them there. The third category of wizard spells are their sight and vision spells. These spells begin with the level 4 see invisible and glimpse spells and grow from there. These spells will allow you to see invisible objects, see things through your targets eyes and even control tiny drones and see through their eyes. This category of spells keeps the wizard class interesting and are a very welcome addition to any spellbook. The final category is consists of miscellaneous wizard spells. These are spells that don't fit into other categories. I will describe a few of these in the paragraphs below: First and foremost are you defensive buffs. These can be cast on yourself only The first line you will receive is the shielding line of spells. These spells will increase your armor class and your hit points. Higher level variants can also increase your resistances. Later on you will receive leather skin style spells which will absorb a certain amount of the damage which would otherwise hurt you. In essence these spells grant you additional hit points becaues they absorb damage that you would otherwise take. A very useful level 1 spell for humans and erudites is the sphere of light spell. This spell summons a light which can be placed in your inventory or hand and used as a light source similar to a fire beetle eye. This can be useful after you die because you might not have any money in the bank and may need a light source. Level 4 will see the first of your root spells. These spells will hold your target in place. These are important for two reason. The first is in groups it will keep monsters from running away when low on health. The second is when soloing(and also in groups) because it will keep the monster at bay so you can drain your mana on it without having to take the punches. Higher level variants such as the level 20 enstill will root your opponents in place for longer periods of time. Wizards also have a variant of personal mini teleportal spells such as the level 4 fade and the level 8 shadow step. These spells will teleport you a short distance away and are good to keep a monster from hitting you until the tanks can taunt him off of you or until it is rooted in place. A useful spell at low levels is O'Kiel's Radiation. This spell creates a fire shield and is one of the few spells you can cast on others. This shield does very low damage at higher levels but the 2 points here and there add up slowly. At level 16 you will be able to cast invisibility. This is another one of the spells that you can cast on others. This is a very useful spell even if you do receive it later than other mage types. This spell is very important for wizards as you wish to avoid contact as much as possible with unwanted opponents. Wizards are nothing without mana and it is a shame to waste your mana on an unwanted foe. This is just a sampling of some of the spells you will see as a wizard. There are many more but generally they fall under the above categories. So what race makes the best wizards? This is very subjective as there are several races which can fill the role nicely. Erudites are perhaps the most obvious choice as they have the highest intelligence. The disadvantage of erudites is the lack of infravision which can make life difficult at early levels. Dark elves are another fine choice for wizards as their intelligence is not much lower than erudites and their other attributes are a bit better. The problem with being a dark elf is the fact that being an evil race will make you less acceptable to the outside world. Gnomes are another race that should not be overlooked. Gnomes can tinker and create nice trinkets such as infravision goggles. Gnomes have very high intelligence and also have infravision without the disadvantage of being an evil race. They are a hard race to choose against. High elves can also fill in as wizards pretty easily however they are probably not quite as suited as the above three. The most important thing to remember if you decide to create a wizard is that things will be very rough early on. Do not base your opinions of this class by it's capabilities at early levels. From level 1-11 you will not be able to hold your own with other classes. Your damage spells while nice are not much better than those of other classes(though your area effect spells can be useful in the right situations) and your meelee skills are a joke. Beginning with level 12 things will start to turn around a bit for your class and by the time you hit level 20 you will begin to come into your own. Anyone who doubts the viability of a high level wizard can be pointed to the fact that the first level 50 player in the game was a dark elf wizard by the name of Asmonius who made it to level 46 before the level 29+ spells were even in the game. He would have been able to level much quicker if he had access to the higher level spells had been in the game. Wizards are a very powerful class however they are also a very hard class to play. You will have to learn to hit without being hit and this can take time. In the longrun however you will be able to kill monsters faster than any other class in the game and in many situations will be able to destroy beings faster alone than any two other players of other classes could in the same amount of time.