Help for pyro caster

[76561198014424245]

Hey guys I'm playing with 2 friends of mine and one is a rogue, one is a ranger. I'm the caster in the group and I know my damage isn't suppose to be as good as theirs, but I think part of it is my skills and choice of stats.

If any pro pyro mages can help me out and tell me what to invest in and what skills to use, I would greatly appreciate it. Some questions so you get a general idea of how noob I am -

Should I max out int over wit?
What school should I pair with pyro? Should I go for a physical school like necro to deal with fire immunes or just get something like geo?
Talents to get?

I see random posts from time to time about how their mages are hitting for thousands of damage and I'm level 16 only hitting for about 300-400 per spell. Any help greatly appreciated, ty!

[Zorpen]

Wit is only needed for one char in group so you always act first.

Int is your damage stat.

Mix some geo with pyro.

[Crow]

Polymorph + Geomancer + Pyromancer
Apotheosis + Pyroclastic Eruption + Meteor Shower

[Topher1998]

Only max wits if you go for the talent which lets your spells crit otherwise just max intellience out as much as you can my current character has over 30 and i easily do 600+ dmg per spell at lvl 13

As for spells to invest in laser ray is a good choice as well as fire nova if you have a good escape but other than that i use the classic fireball searing daggers and spontaneous combustion spells. Bare in mind if your going to use laser ray and firenova they both take 3 AP so the elemental affinity talent has been a great investment for me even if you have to self inflict the fire (for example- use searing daggers to start throw one at your feet and the rest at you target)

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Prioritize Int by far over Wits. Only use Wits and Savage Sortilege if you're the only one putting points into it as having more than one character with high Wits is useless.
You should definitly grab Geomancy when you go for Pyromancy. A decent chunk of your damage stems from oil/poison surface explosions. Enemies with fire immunity should not be an issue for you as you have two physical party members.
Far Out Man is probably the most important talent. Mnemonic can be useful if you struggle with Memory and Savage Sortilege is okay if you can keep up the crit chance at around 30-40% I would say.
You could try Elemental Affinity and Demon and just go for a more close range oriented setup with Supernova and possibly Phoenix Dive.
Torturer can be useful and boosts Spontaneus Combustion damage but it's not neccessary I would say. Only get it if you have the point to spare and don't feel like increasing your defenses( Unless you have enough magical CC to benefit from the extra DoT-tick regularly in which case it's good).

Epidemic of Fire is crucial and should be your go to source ability( unless you use Meteor Shower). Fireball is clearly a must have alongside Impale from Geo. Fossil Strike is decent if you have the open slot.
Otherwise I would recommend: Spontaneus Combustion( ideally followed up by one of the surface skills to reapply the DoT); Throw Dust( which is a crafted non source Geo/Huntsman skill that deals earth damage, removes surfaces and blinds); Laser Ray if you can manage to not hit your teammembers; Fire Whip if you are close enough to use it reliably;

then the aforementioned Phoenix Dive/Supernova alongside potentially Flaming Tongues( which effectively gives you attacks of Opportunity with pure fire damage but in a better radius and also when enemies move towards you).

Poison Dart is a must with an Undead in your party and otherwise a decent ability although you tend to run into enemy undead a lot. Then both the Artillery Plant and the Fire Slug are decent summons and (one of them, preferrably the Plant) should be taken( unless you're using Meteor Shower regularly).

[Prester]

dont go a single point in wits. you WANT the enemy to be up first so they all run up to you.
go memory for as many spells as you need, but never learn more skills than your first skillbar has space for, you will never use more if you use them correctly so you are wasting attribute points on memory.

only go constitution or str for items, completely ignore finesse since finesse items always have the worst bonuses for casters. when you go spider kiss or other trades in attributes always sacrifice your finesse, its completely 100% useless for pyro.

go 2 points aerofuge for teleport and warfare for phoenix dive or scondrel for adrenaline and the scondrel teleport. gather all enemies in one spot with teleports, then jump in with phoenix dive and bomb down one aoe spell after the other till everyone is dead.

go for the perk "elemental affinity" that reduces ap costs when standing in the element. you want to always stand in fire and your spells make it easy for you to do exactly that.

go items that have fire resistance. preferably the perk demon (+15 % fireresistance) and lizard (+10% fireresistance). at level 12-15 you reach the 100%+ resistance and are a firegod

do NOT take dedicated waterbenders with you. their spells reduce your damage output and you prevent them from stunning/freezing enemies. water and fire in the same team only works out in classic or explorer, where everything works anyways... dont do it its stupid

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Originally posted by Prester:

do NOT take dedicated waterbenders and airbenders with you. their spells reduce your damage output and you prevent them from stunning/freezing enemies. water and fire in the same team only works out in classic or explorer, where everything works anyways... dont do it its stupid

Except I was running exactly that on tactician. Having someone else use Aero to stun enemies is fine it doesn't really hurt you that much. Having Hydro for support reasons and some water damage abilities for hard CC/ fire resist enemies with low magic armor works well if you use it properly. After all, even if you "pass" a turn because your target is frozen you can still apply buffs and save up two points to finish them off in the next turn. And even if you don't do that targeting another enemy works just as fine.

[Prester]

well then u crippled urself. doesnt mean its suddenly recommended. i can beat the game with 1 scondrel, doesnt mean its fun or recommended to anyone

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Originally posted by Prester:

well then u crippled urself. doesnt mean its suddenly recommended. i can beat the game with 1 scondrel, doesnt mean its fun or recommended to anyone

Yeah, except I had hard magic CC which you wouldn't have with your setup. I consider my enemies to be more crippled in that case tbh.

[Prester]

Op wants to build a pyromancer, not a ccler

i know you just wanna win the argument for your ego, but stay on topic plz. ur commend was just to prove to yourself that your setup wasnt trash. get over urself and stop spamming

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Originally posted by Prester:

i know you just wanna win the argument for your ego, but stay on topic plz.

Then why bother replying and feeding my spam if you want to stop it?
Anyway, you said that a setup was utter trash in a discussion about setups, I stated resons as to why it isn't and you replied with "lul, it's still trash, git gud". If anything, you should stop spamming.

Originally posted by Prester:

ur commend was just to prove to yourself that your steup wasnt trash. get over urself and stop spamming

My Tactician playthrough already does that well enough.

[Prester]

Originally posted by Dr.Fumetastic:

Anyway, you said that a setup was utter trash in a discussion about setups, I stated resons as to why it isn't and you replied with "lul, it's still trash, git gud". If anything, you should stop spamming.

you didnt start reasoning why ur setup is no trash, you just derailed the thread with

"uuh ma setup isnt trash cuz i used it on highest difficulty im mad pro so its nu trash even though it forces me to scip turns or lower damage on half of the enemies every turn muh but i did use it so its nu trash im gud muh and i will answer as often as i have to to win argumebnts on da internez muh"

tell me whats the advantage of having a dedicated waterbender that goes hydromancy main in your team when you also have a dedicated pyromancer main? heals and buffs arens waterbending main, they are sidekick gimmicks. tell me if using rain helps his pyromancer

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Originally posted by Prester:

heals and buffs arens waterbending main, they are sidekick gimmicks.

If you see it that way fine for you. I consider them to be core abilities that every Hydro character should grab.

Originally posted by Prester:

tell me whats the advantage of having a dedicated waterbender that goes hydromancy main in your team when you also have a dedicated pyromancer main?

I already did, you just don't consider it reasoning. Hard CC is always at least decent.

Originally posted by Prester:

"i will answer as often as i have to to win argumebnts on da internez muh"

Got to love how you're doing the same thing yet keep calling me out for it.

[Mandalore108]

Originally posted by Dr.Fumetastic:

Prioritize Int by far over Wits. Only use Wits and Savage Sortilege if you're the only one putting points into it as having more than one character with high Wits is useless.
You should definitly grab Geomancy when you go for Pyromancy. A decent chunk of your damage stems from oil/poison surface explosions. Enemies with fire immunity should not be an issue for you as you have two physical party members.
Far Out Man is probably the most important talent. Mnemonic can be useful if you struggle with Memory and Savage Sortilege is okay if you can keep up the crit chance at around 30-40% I would say.
You could try Elemental Affinity and Demon and just go for a more close range oriented setup with Supernova and possibly Phoenix Dive.
Torturer can be useful and boosts Spontaneus Combustion damage but it's not neccessary I would say. Only get it if you have the point to spare and don't feel like increasing your defenses( Unless you have enough magical CC to benefit from the extra DoT-tick regularly in which case it's good).

Epidemic of Fire is crucial and should be your go to source ability( unless you use Meteor Shower). Fireball is clearly a must have alongside Impale from Geo. Fossil Strike is decent if you have the open slot.
Otherwise I would recommend: Spontaneus Combustion( ideally followed up by one of the surface skills to reapply the DoT); Throw Dust( which is a crafted non source Geo/Huntsman skill that deals earth damage, removes surfaces and blinds); Laser Ray if you can manage to not hit your teammembers; Fire Whip if you are close enough to use it reliably;

then the aforementioned Phoenix Dive/Supernova alongside potentially Flaming Tongues( which effectively gives you attacks of Opportunity with pure fire damage but in a better radius and also when enemies move towards you).

Poison Dart is a must with an Undead in your party and otherwise a decent ability although you tend to run into enemy undead a lot. Then both the Artillery Plant and the Fire Slug are decent summons and (one of them, preferrably the Plant) should be taken( unless you're using Meteor Shower regularly).

Do you know of a vendor that sells Epidemic of Fire perchance?

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Originally posted by Mandalore108:

Do you know of a vendor that sells Epidemic of Fire perchance?

Pyro vendors sell it at around level 10ish at worst at level 12, I believe. When a book is sold is solely dependant on whether or not it is crafted(and thus whether it is sold at all) and on the highest character level in your party iirc. The Pyro vendor in Driftwood( which should be your first chance to acquire it) can be found at the trading plaza.
I believe one of the source masters can also give it to you. I think that the lich you find in Mordus basement gives it to you if you choose it. I already had it at that point however, so it might not be one of the options.

[Myth]

Originally posted by Zorpen:

Wit is only needed for one char in group so you always act first.

Int is your damage stat.

Mix some geo with pyro.

wit is only good for one char? LOL...no dude...no....

but ya...the one char with wit MIGHT go first....while the rest of your party sitting at 10 wit is gona go dead last....