How do i reach high wizard lvl?

[Warchief]

seeing people with wizard levels at 500-1000 even 5K..

meanwhile I'm strugleing to raise my pityfull wizard. I'm at 126 atm.

Replaying older levels on endurance might give me a few thousand more xp than the previous run, but there must be some trick to gain the massive amount of XP needed to raise WL to the thousands?

[TypicalBailey]

Your WL won't do big jumps until you get to the point you are mana farming effectively.

Make sure you have a solid skill distribution and play through all the fields to get all the skills and battle traits would be my first recommendation. Some of the stashes have pretty good talisman fragments in especially if you spend the shadow cores to boost them. After that you are going to want to do endurances where you mana farm. (With traits like adaptive carapace, overcrowd, dark masonry maxed, there are some others you can use in addition to this but they are optional at low lvl) Don't worry about monsters getting through much just try to focus on getting your mana farm and enrage gem up as much as possible at first.

I have tried to be breif with this response if you want to ask any questions about what I have said feel free, or ask in the discord as there are allot of knowledgeable players there.

[lfindlay]

make sure you have all the horizontal talisman bonues for sure. you wont be able to get lots of high level talisman pieces yet,but you can farm them on A1J throughout the game. Make you are you mana farming as mentioned above, then enrage gems as much as you can. The goal is not to finish endurance as much as it is to maximize your score. There are a few different threads in here that go through endurance runs and enraging that are worth your time to read. It goes slow at first but then picks up almost exponentially.

[matikorpi]

Or you can do some mass waves sending with shrineclearing on higher traits, endurance or normal. It can move you up pretty quickly.

[lfindlay]

wl1000 isnt really high yet. One poster in here talked about having hit the 1million mark. I have a game at about 67k. once you get to 500 it picks up to get past1000 pretty quickly

[Kayos]

I'm at level 83 and am completely stuck atm. I've gotten all the wizard chests except 3 (from how far I've progressed) the 3 I can't get have such high hp, I can't get them down fast enough.
I don't have enough skill points for the extra starting mana for my current level. and xp from endurance is really low, cause I can't complete them with high traits activated anymore. (I went back to the first few levels and beat endurance with 2 maxed traits. and now all others are too long and I get destroyed.

Also, video guides are extremely outdated (some still have chests in trial, where there are now none); or they have such a high wizard level that they can breeze through the map cause of their huge excess of mana.

[tuxino]

If your goal is XP, you don't actually need to complete the endurance runs. As long as you get more XP than your previous max, you have gained.

[Kayos]

Originally posted by tuxino:

If your goal is XP, you don't actually need to complete the endurance runs. As long as you get more XP than your previous max, you have gained.

That's my problem though, the low levels I can complete / get far with traits, but past the first 3 - 4 levels, I have to greatly reduce the traits, which greatly lowers xp, and gives barely anything. I can't carry on with the levels I'm up to, cause I feel greatly under levelled I've tried endurance on every level that I've completed, and attempted trials, but only finished maybe 8.

I'm in an endless loop, of not being able to get a good amount of xp without harder / completing endurances, but not being able to do well in them, cause my level is too low.

[TypicalBailey]

Originally posted by Kayos:

Originally posted by tuxino:

If your goal is XP, you don't actually need to complete the endurance runs. As long as you get more XP than your previous max, you have gained.

That's my problem though, the low levels I can complete / get far with traits, but past the first 3 - 4 levels, I have to greatly reduce the traits, which greatly lowers xp, and gives barely anything. I can't carry on with the levels I'm up to, cause I feel greatly under levelled I've tried endurance on every level that I've completed, and attempted trials, but only finished maybe 8.

I'm in an endless loop, of not being able to get a good amount of xp without harder / completing endurances, but not being able to do well in them, cause my level is too low.

Just set resonance = mana stream, fusion to either 0 or 5, a few points in amps if you are using them. Make sure most of your skill points are spent and you should be able to progress to true colors on J1 using dual gems in towers and a couple of amps. Once you have that then you can put points into that (equal to mana stream and resonance the field doesn't have crit or higher if it does). After that you can just use pure crit for most of the game, you may have to mana farm C4 if you are sub lvl 100. If you need xp journey is as good a source as endurance at your lvl as the hp scaling is slower, just replay a field with overcrowd maxed + others if you want.

[Kayos]

Originally posted by TypicalBailey:

Originally posted by Kayos:

That's my problem though, the low levels I can complete / get far with traits, but past the first 3 - 4 levels, I have to greatly reduce the traits, which greatly lowers xp, and gives barely anything. I can't carry on with the levels I'm up to, cause I feel greatly under levelled I've tried endurance on every level that I've completed, and attempted trials, but only finished maybe 8.

I'm in an endless loop, of not being able to get a good amount of xp without harder / completing endurances, but not being able to do well in them, cause my level is too low.

Just set resonance = mana stream, fusion to either 0 or 5, a few points in amps if you are using them. Make sure most of your skill points are spent and you should be able to progress to true colors on J1 using dual gems in towers and a couple of amps. Once you have that then you can put points into that (equal to mana stream and resonance the field doesn't have crit or higher if it does). After that you can just use pure crit for most of the game, you may have to mana farm C4 if you are sub lvl 100. If you need xp journey is as good a source as endurance at your lvl as the hp scaling is slower, just replay a field with overcrowd maxed + others if you want.

My mana stream and resonance are equal. I have points in amp too, as I use them lots, and 10 points in bolt and freeze. I also have extra skill points for the mana. I've gone back and tried to beat lots of the early levels, so much so, that they give me barely any xp. Anywhere between 1 and 400. the xp rate is so pitiful - that is with extra traits used too, at least with as much as I can handle at my current level.

[lfindlay]

It seems to me that you are spending too many skill points. I beat the story with a WL in the 90s and others have done it lower. I never put a single point amps bolts or freeze. The starting mana they give is just to valuable to get though the levels. I probably had something like 20 in resonance and 10 levels of mana stream until I was able to get True Colors, then did 20 levels there and maybe 10 in Resonance. so try spending less points...the added benefit of those points in the spells really dont help as much as the extra mana would for each map. You can also do trials to get more skill points, as your stats have no impact on them, but the extra skill points are nice. Also achievment hunting might help you get some more skill points too. I would just keep doing every map in all 3 phases. I wouldnt max out the traits on endurance runs either. IN fact you could just do them with out any traits just to get the xp you do get. doing enough of them will get you up the levels. and once you have the Mana and Crit gems skills the rest is easy. If you are stuck at certain levels ask the question in here, but perhaps had a screen shot of your talisman and skills distribution so we can guide you more specifically.

[Aglet Green]

Originally posted by Kayos:

Originally posted by tuxino:

If your goal is XP, you don't actually need to complete the endurance runs. As long as you get more XP than your previous max, you have gained.

That's my problem though, the low levels I can complete / get far with traits, but past the first 3 - 4 levels, I have to greatly reduce the traits, which greatly lowers xp, and gives barely anything. I can't carry on with the levels I'm up to, cause I feel greatly under levelled I've tried endurance on every level that I've completed, and attempted trials, but only finished maybe 8.

I'm in an endless loop, of not being able to get a good amount of xp without harder / completing endurances, but not being able to do well in them, cause my level is too low.

Please note: you say it several times, so I have to tell you that don't need to complete Endurance in Frostborn Wrath to get exp from it. So, don't worry if it's set to 30 levels and you only make it wave 28. Set all your Battle Traits to 12 (or whatever) and only make it to wave 4. You'll get 10 times the amount of experience than you would have if you've lowered them to 0 and made it to wave 30.

Make sure the lights on your Talisman are lit, as many as possible. Look at the odd symbols on each jigsaw puzzle piece: you match them three-of-a-kind going across, and make sure they are three-different going up and down. Waste a few shadow-cores changing shapes if you need to; these bonuses are Worth It at low levels. (A good Talisman will give you a boost to starting mana and mana each wave; this will keep you going until you've got a handle on skills and game-play.)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2051496413
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2096295354

Also, try the game once on Chilling Mode. You'll get real-world experience of how to do stuff, you'll get confidence and you'll be wizard 100 by the time you do a dozen fields. Three free amps and a Freeze spell make the game a breeze.

[Kayos]

Originally posted by Aglet Green:

Originally posted by Kayos:

That's my problem though, the low levels I can complete / get far with traits, but past the first 3 - 4 levels, I have to greatly reduce the traits, which greatly lowers xp, and gives barely anything. I can't carry on with the levels I'm up to, cause I feel greatly under levelled I've tried endurance on every level that I've completed, and attempted trials, but only finished maybe 8.

I'm in an endless loop, of not being able to get a good amount of xp without harder / completing endurances, but not being able to do well in them, cause my level is too low.

Please note: you say it several times, so I have to tell you that don't need to complete Endurance in Frostborn Wrath to get exp from it. So, don't worry if it's set to 30 levels and you only make it wave 28. Set all your Battle Traits to 12 (or whatever) and only make it to wave 4. You'll get 10 times the amount of experience than you would have if you've lowered them to 0 and made it to wave 30.

Make sure the lights on your Talisman are lit, as many as possible. Look at the odd symbols on each jigsaw puzzle piece: you match them three-of-a-kind going across, and make sure they are three-different going up and down. Waste a few shadow-cores changing shapes if you need to; these bonuses are Worth It at low levels. (A good Talisman will give you a boost to starting mana and mana each wave; this will keep you going until you've got a handle on skills and game-play.)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2051496413
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2096295354

Also, try the game once on Chilling Mode. You'll get real-world experience of how to do stuff, you'll get confidence and you'll be wizard 100 by the time you do a dozen fields. Three free amps and a Freeze spell make the game a breeze.

I'm aware about how endurance works. I'm saying, I've already tried endurance mode on every level I've beaten already. Going back, turning traits up, and just starting waves to get destroyed nets me with 0, or near 0 xp; Or with the low levels, since I have completed endurances there with traits, I need to try complete them with more (impossible atm) to get any meaningful level of xp.

I didn't know about the talisman symbols thing, cause the game never explained that. So, cheers for that. I'm curious, what is the bonus for the symbols?

I've already put 100 hours into on the normal difficulty. I don't like playing games on easy, because they are too easy. The problem with gemcraft though, is the original difficulty always starts off too easy, but then gets brutal very quick, forcing you to have to grind levels; But grinding levels is always ridiculously long and tedious in the beginning. If it wasn't for that stupid "you only get xp if you surpass the previous amount and only get the difference" rule, it wouldn't be so bad.

[Aglet Green]

Originally posted by Kayos:

I didn't know about the talisman symbols thing, cause the game never explained that. So, cheers for that. I'm curious, what is the bonus for the symbols?

There are two bonuses, the horizontal one and the vertical. These two bonuses are percentage of initial mana, and how much extra mana you will get when starting a new wave. The bonuses vary depending on the rarity of the jigsaw-puzzle pieces. In the filled-out picture of the two Talismans, the bonuses are 580% initial mana, and 1218 mana per wave. In the top one, it was something like 30% initial mana and 200 mana per wave.

Note: Hwang5 has a nice guide with the math involved. Once you get a few fragments together, it's well-worth reading.

[=(eG)=™Cthulhu]

If you are using all of the traits on endurance you are doing it wrong. At your level you do not want Hatred, Haste, Thick Air, Insulation, or Strength in Numbers. These will simply cause you to get overran.

Do not spend skill points you don't have to. Only put a single point into most skills to enable them. If you are putting any extra into strike or enhancement spells you are wasting points. During the course of a map are you 'really' going to notice that 7-8% recharge rate. No, you won't. You will notice the mana that lets you get gems out faster though. Same with amp and lanterns. Getting a few % bonus is nothing.

All you need to complete journey is the ability to manafarm and the minimum of spent skill points. If you have not already then you should reset your achievements for the bonus 240 points. Don't worry, you will regain most of them after your next battle. Look through the achievements and hunt a few of the easy ones if you really need some points.

As for wizard chests, a Crit gem with Beam cast a couple of times will finish off most of them in a hurry. If not, skip them and move on. You can always come back later.

[TypicalBailey]

You don't need to put a point in skills to 'enable' them 1% cd on spells will not be noticable. Like I said in a previous comment mana stream = resonance, fusion at 0 or 5, a few points in amps if you want. Don't bother with the other skills and spend as many skill ppints as you can while still being able to beat the starting waves. When you get true colours put thus equal or higher than resonance depending on if you have crit on the field.

When you say you use amps lots this concerns me as they get expensive quickly so you should really only be using 2 at most in my opinion. If you put 2 amps next to each other you can put 2 towers either side such that all 4 towers are hit by both amps.

The tip from Aglet Green about the talisman will help with mana.

The game doesn't force you to grind levels if you know what you are doing. You can beat the game without replaying fields and only playing a few endurances for certain stashes if you know what you are doing. I have beat it at WL87 without using a talisman. Bill Wilson has beat it at WL75 and he didn't reset achievements.

I feel like I need to defend the game balance as I never felt the need to grind. If it were like you suggested where you didn't need to surpass previous xp it would encourage the player to spam the same map a bunch of times until they could beat the next field with their strategy instead of looking to improve their strategy.