Wizard/High Wizard Build Advice

[azurerogue]

My current wizard build is not the greatest (I'm aware of this fact), so what I'm mostly looking for is advice on making my High Wizard better when I rebirth.

Currently, this is what I have on my wizard:

STR 1+1
AGI 9+4
VIT 1
INT 90+9
DEX 42+5
LUK 1+1

I've stopped working on INT and am now going for DEX. I originally planned to have 99 INT and 89 DEX base at lvl 99, but I'm thinking it might be wise to switch those (even though I'm not going to PvP much until after rebirth). My skills currently are:
Sight 1
Napalm Beat 1
Cold Bolt 5
Frost Diver 10
Stone Curse 1
Fireball 5
Firewall 10
Fire Bolt 10
Lightning Bolt 4
Thunderstorm 1
Jupitel Thunder 10
Waterball 1 (still leveling it)
Stormgust 10
Earth Spike 3
Heaven's Drive 5
Quagmire 5

Now, I know there are flaws in that, so rather than paying to reset I'm just going to try to live with it and level to 99/50 and fix the problems when I rebirth.

Here's what I'm looking at as my final stuff after Rebirth, please give any advice you can (nicely).

STR 1
AGI 1
VIT 40
INT 93
DEX 99
LUK 1
(all base, with no job/equip bonuses)

Skills:
Increase SP Recovery 5
Napalm Beat 5
Soul Strike 7
Fire Bolt 4 -> Fireball 5 -> Firewall 10
Cold Bolt 5 -> Frost Diver 10
Lightning Bolt 4 -> Thunderstorm 1
Stone Curse 1

Jupitel Thunder 10 -> Lord of Vermillion 1 (just for hit-locking purposes)
Waterball 5
Icewall 2 (extra points, I wasn't sure where else to put them??)
Storm Gust 10
Earth Spike 3 -> Heaven's Drive 5 -> Quagmire 3
Soul Drain 10
Magic Crasher 1 (I have yet to usefully utilize this skill, but I think it looks like fun)
Amplify Magic Power 10

(note, some Wiz skill points went into mage skills)

I appreciate any advice. Also, for the poorly equipped solo wizard, is soils the best place to stay until rebirth? I like the money I make there from generic drops and such, and the exp isn't terrible (though 1.5% per kill is starting to get boring ;p)

[GM-Pandora]

You do know we have a reset npc right? So you can correct it (for a fee) if you're not satisfied with your current build.

Lose the agi of course.

Aside from that your skill plan and stats for high wiz seem good. Wizard build are very personal, some find certain skill essential while others will find them useless. I've heard people defend vehemently their soul strike build, while others worship the firewall approach, so just go with what you're confortable with.

I personally would change this:
Magic Crasher 1 (I have yet to usefully utilize this skill, but I think it looks like fun) -> Seems like a waste of skill point, but thats just me
And only get soul strike/napalm if you are getting safety wall too.

If you plan to pvp/woe get stone curse at 10 it can come in handy.

[azurerogue]

Yea, I know about the reset NPC, but unless my Wizard build fails to help me level I'd rather not waste the money (I still don't have all that much to spare, yet). If it becomes a necessity I will use it, otherwise I'll wait for rebirth (which isn't going as slowly as I thought it would, but I haven't hit the level 90s stretch yet...icky).

Thanks for the advice all the same, though . Oh, and the only reason Soul Strike and Napalm Beat are in there is for Soul Drain, which I suppose isn't actually all that necessary now that I think of it. I mean, with high INT it's not like I'm going to be running out of energy all the time anyways. Hm, I'll have to look into that.

[GM-Pandora]

Soul drain is a good skill if you're gonna be fast cast you can spam a lot, so your sp can run out fast. But 12 skill point requirement is a lot to get it if you're not getting satefy wall.

[azurerogue]

Good call. I suppose I could get rid of Icewall 2, Magic Crasher 1, and lower Firewall a few levels to get Safety Wall (and maybe later I'll just reset to drop Firewall for Safety wall altogether).

[GM-Pandora]

It's always hard to decide which skill to drop XD

[Jasper]

Honestly, I believe soul strike is a must no matter what (in my opinion). Fire wall has to be at lvl 10, along with frost diver. Now, we have marc wearers who pwn you, so make sure you have stone curse. NOW they might bust out with Evil Druid card which makes them undead, SO thats when soul strike comes in handy. They might be immune stone and freeze, but soul strike will do nice damage (and its fast). Stave crasher, yes waste of skill but its a skill you need when fighting monsters that are immuned to magic (angeling and some monsters in thanatos). In conclusion, theres LOTS of builds for a wizard.

*If you need wizard help pm me in-game (Tripp)*

[bensei]

Quote:Here's what I'm looking at as my final stuff after Rebirth, please give any advice you can (nicely).

STR 1
AGI 1
VIT 40
INT 93
DEX 99
LUK 1
(all base, with no job/equip bonuses)

didnt you think about equips yet? the build itselfs is ok. a common Wiz build wich works pretty well in pvp but especially in pvm.

my advice would just be that you try to aim for the breakpoints in your stats. by reaching special points, you can get dmg bonus or certain recovery bonus.

the oney that seem to be relevant to oyur interest should be

vit: every 5 Vit you gain a % of natural HP recovery.
There is a hidden bonus of +1 Int style MDEF per 2 points.

int: Every 6 full points of INT increases SP Recovery Power by 1 and past 120 INT, every 2 INT gives a bonus to SP Recovery Power of 1.
a Min Matk Bonus for every 7int
a max matk bonus for every 5int

and well dex: wich in your case just means that 15 dex are a Cast time reduction of 10% and so on.

i oculd be wrong about the matk bonus, im a bit tired, but i think i didnt mix it up.

I would rather try to hit the breakpoints that suit you must, it sure can make the little difference in the most situations /ok :3

too tired to check the skills now, sorry. just use the ones that help you lvling, and that you are used to. =)


Edit: sorry for typos, ill fix this tomorrow @_@

[azurerogue]

Good advice, but before I start trying to take into account final breakpoint stats I'd need to research which equipment I'd want. Trust me, I've looked into it a ton (I sometimes feel like I enjoy planning a character more than playing it), but I have a hard time deciding, especially since this server has custom items that I'm not positive how to get exactly and I always have a hard time (especially with wizards for some reason) choosing functionality over style. Example, I would take a Wizard Hat/Mage Hat + Glasses (not Sunglasses[1]) over any other head gear any day. Why? Because I think they look cool!

But yea, maybe I'll start looking into which equipments I think I'll be using so I can hit the breakpoints in those three stats (well, not so much dex - I just want that as high as possible). Thanks again everyone.

[Namine]

On the contrary, Namin? thinks that soul strike is one of the worse drag on the world that people get because Safety Wall said so >>; When the dex damage is so high already, a low level bolt will far suffice as "spam spell" instead of soul strike. Soul strike's ghost element is usually not that helpful, and if they must insist on the evil druid armor to try to bypass stone curse and freeze, then they get the full hit from Storm Gust which is no little damage at all. Really against storm gust, people will die one way or another. Namin? always thought that the only real way to counter storm gust is to either prevent its casting or not get hit by it at all... evil druid alone does neither.

Forget magic crasher... if the monster is immune to spells to begin with (GTB, or holy/shadow 4) then the monster is not meant for wizards to begin with. Really don't try to do everything... in those cases, switch from heavy artillery to supportive role. Help priests with safety wall, or battle the slaves instead or something... Namin? finds it pointless for any character to think that they have to do everything.

Now this following point may be crazy... but some people say that if dex is high enough, Frost Diver is really unnecessary because SG1 will probably do the same thing. It freezes just fine, and the only drawback is speed... with firewall or simply precast before the monster is already there, SG1 can be used to replace frost diver... therefore, allowing the wizard to conserve skill points there, and put them elsewhere. In PvP or WoE situations, wizards are always precasting anyway... if there is a breakthrough, there are far better spells than frost diver such as fire pillar (totally underestimated WoE spell), firewall or just SG1 again... Namin? personally agrees to this statement regardless of how the entire server including her own guild wants to stone her to death for 'blasphemy against frost diver.'