role of battle wizard?

[livin']

should i be horde clearing? watching for specials? killing elites?

[Medicles]

Depends on what weapon you are using. Every career can do every job with the right weapons.

[Kaelus Von Sestiaf]

Battle wizard is very versatile, because her staves are very versatile and she has very good passive overcharge depletion.

That said, the staves that compliment her kit more (fireball, conflagration), and her kit, are all geared towards control.
That is, your most usual role as battle wizard is keeping enemies in check. That means killing or staggering the horde, groups of elites and bosses (your ult can stagger bosses).

[Pungent]

Learn to do all of the above. One thing that so many inexperienced players get stuck on is thinking that they have to be some kind of hyper-specialized role-filler, when in reality, very few circumstances call for such a thing. If you aren't doing something like high level weaves or Cataclysm deeds with tough mods like Vanguard + HBFS + insta-death, then you simply do not need anyone to be a specialized tank/sniper/etc. Shade or Bounty Hunter as the designated boss-killers are about the closest thing to a real dedicated role you'll be able to fill in this game (outside of the aforementioned end-game type situations). Beyond that, just learn to be flexible and do everything well. It doesn't matter if you're some paper-mache Waystalker/Pyro/Huntsman, you should be able to hold your own in melee without falling apart every time more than a couple enemies get up close to you. Conversely, you should be able to snipe things from the frontlines, even if you're the merc/FK/IB/zealot/w/e that is currently standing up front and mowing down horde.

[Kaelus Von Sestiaf]

Y'know, that's true as well. That's partly why jack-of-all trades classes and weapons are also very popular, everyone ends up doing everything.

[YourLittlePogchamp]

I say she's geared best for clearing hordes and controlling elites. If given a bit of time she should be able to clear even a giant group of elites on her own by spamming charged shots from her staves.

On her I used famished flames and burning melee weapons like the firesword and flail to do massive aoe damage and stun nearly any enemy with charged attacks. The beam staff becomes an overpowered shotgun with famished flames. It can snipe specials(with rightclick) and deal massive boss damage with just the beam, making it a one-size-fit-all king. Conflag staff can be good, you can stun specials and finish them off with a little extra effort.

With the firesword + beam staff + famished flames + kaboom I'm able to delete hordes, kill specials, and destroy any elite in 5 seconds. You should be aiming for a build that can do a bit of everything in the first place. As long as you're comfortable at killing armor with your build, you should be fine.

[Deja Vu]

BW can do almost any role depending on what build. Her talent tree is very versatile.

[Sir Duckyweather]

Battle Wizard's role? It's really quite simple.
http://i.imgur.com/qHGCDTv.gif

But yeah, the guys above have great answers that cover it pretty well.

[Medicles]

Originally posted by Deja Vu:

BW can do almost any role depending on what build. Her talent tree is very versatile.

BW can do any role she wants, even without the talents. Its all about weapons. The talent tree doesnt do anything in terms of build variety.

[THROGG, Warrior of Doom]

Originally posted by livin':

should i be horde clearing? watching for specials? killing elites?

Main thing is you have forever ammo. Just don't play this class if your teammates are selfish cretins who just run ahead and ignore the fact you will die if hit even once whilst trying to launch an attack.

[Neptune Towers]

Originally posted by THROGG, Warrior of Doom:

Main thing is you have forever ammo. Just don't play this class if your teammates are selfish cretins who just run ahead and ignore the fact you will die if hit even once whilst trying to launch an attack.

Or just don't get hit. Nobody should be your baby-sitter because you picked a particular class. Avoiding damage as a "ranged" role is first and foremost a matter of positioning. Going down in a single hit is of course another gross exaggeration. If your health is topped off, only overhead attacks can down you in one swing, and that only happens on the highest difficulties.

And if your team is running fast, might as well take a hint and keep up with them, they're doing it right. Time is health in this game, and the more time you spend in a map, the more your chances of success ebb away as you keep getting assaulted by hordes and specials.

[morn]

Originally posted by Medicles:

BW can do any role she wants, even without the talents. Its all about weapons. The talent tree doesnt do anything in terms of build variety.

You're wrong. BW have crucial 10 lvl talent that determines her role: with bolt + volcanic you can bodyshot all except CW, beam/conflag/fire sword + famished are for aoe dot clearer/cc (beam also can melt bosses in seconds), conflag + lingering mostly viable in weaves (ignite and run).

[Medicles]

Originally posted by ezol:

Originally posted by Medicles:

BW can do any role she wants, even without the talents. Its all about weapons. The talent tree doesnt do anything in terms of build variety.

You're wrong. BW have crucial 10 lvl talent that determines her role: with bolt + volcanic you can bodyshot all except CW, beam/conflag/fire sword + famished are for aoe dot clearer/cc (beam also can melt bosses in seconds), conflag + lingering mostly viable in weaves (ignite and run).

Thanks for proving my statement that weapons are the actual reason for build variety and talents are just supporting them.

[livin']

Originally posted by ezol:

Originally posted by Medicles:

BW can do any role she wants, even without the talents. Its all about weapons. The talent tree doesnt do anything in terms of build variety.

You're wrong. BW have crucial 10 lvl talent that determines her role: with bolt + volcanic you can bodyshot all except CW, beam/conflag/fire sword + famished are for aoe dot clearer/cc (beam also can melt bosses in seconds), conflag + lingering mostly viable in weaves (ignite and run).

so i know im missing something here, when i use the staff, while using a setup i saw on one of those steam guides, i feel very underpowered on legend, have high enough level from the double exp leveling, and play mostly legend, but normally with merc, what should i be doing to make the beam staff work well?

[CopperBack]

Yes

[morn]

Originally posted by Medicles:

Originally posted by ezol:

You're wrong. BW have crucial 10 lvl talent that determines her role: with bolt + volcanic you can bodyshot all except CW, beam/conflag/fire sword + famished are for aoe dot clearer/cc (beam also can melt bosses in seconds), conflag + lingering mostly viable in weaves (ignite and run).

Thanks for proving my statement that weapons are the actual reason for build variety and talents are just supporting them.

You're wrong. You can't reach specific breakpoints without talents, so you will be useless with same weapon but wrong talent.