The Barley Wizard is in need of assistance

[Sando333]

How the hell do you play wizard?! Because whatever i am trying, it is not working. I basically need to run away from all players forever. Their is no counter attack. Their is get away, but most likely not. Invis and haste and then shield active is all i really have. even the ice mastery shield doesn't really do jack for me. Help

[Mechanique]

Play wizard in duos or trios
Solo wizard is a miserable experience

[Vinyltavia]

beat em with a quarterstaff

[effusivemind]

Originally posted by Sando333:

How the hell do you play wizard?!

in general? you land your spells and things die.

Originally posted by Sando333:

Because whatever i am trying, it is not working. I basically need to run away from all players forever.

I'm going to assume the context is <25 GS dungeons in solos.

the first you need to do is seriously ask yourself if you even want to play wiz. this is the most unforgiving class by far and it takes many hrs to even be decent.

the first rule of wiz is you're not allowed to panic. it doesn't matter if it's norms or HR, if you panic you will make mistakes, and you will die.

the second thing you need to do is pick out 5 spells and get good with using only those 5 spells. I don't care what they are. make a build and commit to it. if you're already bringing Invis consider taking both Magic Missile and Arcane Mastery as well. expect to spend many hrs dying practicing PvP just getting use to these spells. it sounds harsh, but it's just the way it is. every good wiz went through this.

general stuff about wiz:
(1) you cannot fight everywhere. the most important thing new players don't understand is if you take fights in the wrong places it doesn't matter how good you play if they know what they're doing you will die. the flip side is that there are places where you cannot lose if you know what you're doing. wiz favors wide open spaces, particularly when you have the high ground and players have to walk up stairs to get to you. the good news is in the current meta many players try to push wiz immediately and it's extremely easy to bait someone into a bad position.

(2) wiz scales much better with gear. in just greens and blues you can get close to casting twice as many spells in the same time. <25 GS wiz in norms plays very differently than HR wiz. in <25 GS you can't afford to miss spells cuz you will only be able to get a limited amount off. in high GS dungeons you can't afford to miss spells cuz the players are much more experienced. ultimately what winning comes down to is landing your spells.

(3) you need to become an expert at kiting. watch good wiz players and learn how they deal with players. it's a skill you have to master. a new wiz will feel like barbs are the hardest class to deal with, once you get good at kiting they will be easiest. you will kill them long before they get to you even if they have Iron Will.

Originally posted by Mechanique:

Play wizard in duos or trios.

I wouldn't say wiz is weak in solos right now, but this is something to consider OP. to me it's not even debatable wiz is much stronger in groups.

in trios my team knows if we take a fight in an open space and I get to free cast we basically automatically win the fight. solos feels like a waste of the class to me.

I like to play with druid. they're very good at getting and keeping players of their teammates

[Sando333]

Originally posted by effusivemind:

Originally posted by Sando333:

How the hell do you play wizard?!

general stuff about wiz:
(1) you cannot fight everywhere. the most important thing new players don't understand is if you take fights in the wrong places it doesn't matter how good you play if they know what they're doing you will die. the flip side is that there are places where you cannot lose if you know what you're doing. wiz favors wide open spaces, particularly when you have the high ground and players have to walk up stairs to get to you. the good news is in the current meta many players try to push wiz immediately and it's extremely easy to bait someone into a bad position.

(2) wiz scales much better with gear. in just greens and blues you can get close to casting twice as many spells in the same time. <25 GS wiz in norms plays very differently than HR wiz. in <25 GS you can't afford to miss spells cuz you will only be able to get a limited amount off. in high GS dungeons you can't afford to miss spells cuz the players are much more experienced. ultimately what winning comes down to is landing your spells.

(3) you need to become an expert at kiting. watch good wiz players and learn how they deal with players. it's a skill you have to master. a new wiz will feel like barbs are the hardest class to deal with, once you get good at kiting they will be easiest. you will kill them long before they get to you even if they have Iron Will.

THIS is the kind of info I was looking for. I guess it's more of a gear issue in some regards. Even so, the hardest class for me has actually been Druid. The class is just so fast that they get up on you and then cat ya to death before you can even invis and if you get it off they hit you out of it. And haste isn't going to make you out run the cat, so it feels like maybe i need to take that shield active on my Q? just to have some kind of buffer, but even then i still think i get shredded. I will definitely try to put more time into this. It's just daunting.

[NPC_LUKE]

I'm trash at pvp as a Wizard still, but that's definitely a skill issue on my end I'm assuming. The build I use for 0-24 is I end up taking 2 greens in with me. A ring and a amulet. Both increasing my knowledge as a primary stat, and secondary stat gives me memory capacity.

I'm able to run a build with the perks: Mana Surge, Sage, Spell Overload, and Quick Chant. I take meditation, and of course spell memory.
The spells I ALWAYS have with me are Fireball, Invisibility, Slow, and Magic Missile. Your gear score heavily determines the next spell you can take. If I want Lighting Strike, I go in almost naked. No staff, just a book for my weapon and knowledge/mem capacity gear. Not liking this approach personally.
So, now I normally just take a single green with me, and slot my last spell as either Ice Bolt or Zap.

My biggest problem right now with people is definitely not landing my spells enough, kiting, and panicking too much. All which will get better with continuous play.

Edit: I've always known going into this game though, that this was always going to be an uphill battle. Wizard is by far the hardest class to git gud at pvp with. But, being such a fanboy of wizards, I can't resist taking that path.

[Saws n Sins]

I main Wizard and can tell you if you learn to play him/her you can solo well and pretty much never die to PvE unless you just do something stupid. I main Wizard as a solo as well. Even in PvP I can hold my own, unless I get caught off guard when at like half health

Edit:

Pro tip: been playing Wizard for almost 2 years now and I will give the best piece of advice you can get. DO NOT get use to the crutch of meditation, you should be running duel spell memory. On one run like 5 different damaging spells and get some utility on the other. Learn to use the utility with the damage spells and you can overcome all PvE with ease.

My main sub 25 gear Wizard build runs needing 26 knowledge and the squire will give you more than that in free gear.

Edit 2:

Pro tip again, magic missle is for PvE not PvP (unless they are standing far from you). You should be moving and casting. Haste, move, cast. Run up against a cheaters teaming (talking solos) chain lighting on them twice then followed by fireballs or icebolts

[NPC_LUKE]

Originally posted by Saws n Sins:

I main Wizard and can tell you if you learn to play him/her you can solo well and pretty much never die to PvE unless you just do something stupid. I main Wizard as a solo as well. Even in PvP I can hold my own, unless I get caught off guard when at like half health

Edit:

Pro tip: been playing Wizard for almost 2 years now and I will give the best piece of advice you can get. DO NOT get use to the crutch of meditation, you should be running duel spell memory. On one run like 5 different damaging spells and get some utility on the other. Learn to use the utility with the damage spells and you can overcome all PvE with ease.

My main sub 25 gear Wizard build runs needing 26 knowledge and the squire will give you more than that in free gear.

Edit 2:

Pro tip again, magic missle is for PvE not PvP (unless they are standing far from you). You should be moving and casting. Haste, move, cast. Run up against a cheaters teaming (talking solos) chain lighting on them twice then followed by fireballs or icebolts

Yeah, I'm seriously starting to consider moving up a bracket. 10 spells does seem so much better. Campfires can easily replace meditate.

[Saws n Sins]

Originally posted by NPC_LUKE:

Originally posted by Saws n Sins:

I main Wizard and can tell you if you learn to play him/her you can solo well and pretty much never die to PvE unless you just do something stupid. I main Wizard as a solo as well. Even in PvP I can hold my own, unless I get caught off guard when at like half health

Edit:

Pro tip: been playing Wizard for almost 2 years now and I will give the best piece of advice you can get. DO NOT get use to the crutch of meditation, you should be running duel spell memory. On one run like 5 different damaging spells and get some utility on the other. Learn to use the utility with the damage spells and you can overcome all PvE with ease.

My main sub 25 gear Wizard build runs needing 26 knowledge and the squire will give you more than that in free gear.

Edit 2:

Pro tip again, magic missle is for PvE not PvP (unless they are standing far from you). You should be moving and casting. Haste, move, cast. Run up against a cheaters teaming (talking solos) chain lighting on them twice then followed by fireballs or icebolts

Yeah, I'm seriously starting to consider moving up a bracket. 10 spells does seem so much better. Campfires can easily replace meditate.

My build is 9 spells but yes, you don't need to rest much also always run quarterstaff. It's much better at melee against PvE cause you can block

Edit: my perks are if interested is
Sage
Mana Surge
Arcane Mastery
Quick Chant
(in no particular order)

I'm running 5 damage spells and 4 utility. My utility main 2 of course is haste and invis. Followed by light orb and Lock. Lock can get you out of unwanted pvp if you see them coming and run with haste and lock the door behind you (unless barb or somnething than can 1 hit break door) it is extremely situational. I also like to run light orb, its recharge is extremely fast even without meditation. Lights up all the dark areas. Sure you can have a torch but you cant cast with torch and it lights up way more than a thrown torch.

Orders of spells should be all 5 damage spells first, then invis then haste then other utility. So if you swap out gear and loose knowledge gear you will still have all damage and your best utility. Light orb and Lock is just extremely situational (if running lock run it last on your order list)

[NPC_LUKE]

Originally posted by Saws n Sins:

Originally posted by NPC_LUKE:

Yeah, I'm seriously starting to consider moving up a bracket. 10 spells does seem so much better. Campfires can easily replace meditate.

My build is 9 spells but yes, you don't need to rest much also always run quarterstaff. It's much better at melee against PvE cause you can block

Edit: my perks are if interested is
Sage
Mana Surge
Arcane Mastery
Quick Chant
(in no particular order)

I'm running 5 damage spells and 4 utility. My utility main 2 of course is haste and invis. Followed by light orb and Lock. Lock can get you out of unwanted pvp if you see them coming and run with haste and lock the door behind you (unless barb or somnething than can 1 hit break door it is extremely situational. I also like to run light orb, its recharge is extremely fast even without meditation. Lights up all the dark areas. Sure you can have a torch but you cant cast with torch and lights up way more than a thrown torch.

Orders of spells should be all 5 damage spells first, then invis then haste then other utility. So if you swap out gear and loose knowledge gear you will still have all damage and your best utility. Light orb and Lock is just extremely situational (if running lock run it last on your order list)

Appreciate the tips! :D I'm still getting my ass whooped against the harder PvE. I think having 5 spells is limiting me too much. Haven't even survived a room in Hell, which I unfortunately need to complete quests there for the Tailor. I'm assuming he's hiding my damn knowledge gear for the Squire.

[Saws n Sins]

Originally posted by NPC_LUKE:

Originally posted by Saws n Sins:

My build is 9 spells but yes, you don't need to rest much also always run quarterstaff. It's much better at melee against PvE cause you can block

Edit: my perks are if interested is
Sage
Mana Surge
Arcane Mastery
Quick Chant
(in no particular order)

I'm running 5 damage spells and 4 utility. My utility main 2 of course is haste and invis. Followed by light orb and Lock. Lock can get you out of unwanted pvp if you see them coming and run with haste and lock the door behind you (unless barb or somnething than can 1 hit break door it is extremely situational. I also like to run light orb, its recharge is extremely fast even without meditation. Lights up all the dark areas. Sure you can have a torch but you cant cast with torch and lights up way more than a thrown torch.

Orders of spells should be all 5 damage spells first, then invis then haste then other utility. So if you swap out gear and loose knowledge gear you will still have all damage and your best utility. Light orb and Lock is just extremely situational (if running lock run it last on your order list)

Appreciate the tips! :D I'm still getting my ass whooped against the harder PvE. I think having 5 spells is limiting me too much. Haven't even survived a room in Hell, which I unfortunately need to complete quests there for the Tailor. I'm assuming he's hiding my damn knowledge gear for the Squire.

NP keep practicing. Ice bolt most people over look but is actually pretty good