The Soloing Wizard - what next to spec?

[Zooey]

Hey there Level 39 (almost 40) Wizzy looking for some advice. I've got 38 AA points so far, spent the first 10 in "Enhance Magi's Shielding", after that I put 4-4-8-8 in STA line. In the lower levels I think the regenerating Ward and the additional HP have been really really helpful - but now, since the Mobs start to hit me much harder, I really think about a respec. My playstyle: Mostly solo (because of odd playtimes), occasional grouping, almost no raids. So what do you think: Should I sacrifice my Ward and put all my points into Wizzy Power line to get Manaburn as soon as possible? Or would Fire/Ice lines make more sense? What about the Sorcerer Achievements? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Ammem]

<p>Please answer one question and I will help.</p><p>Are you on a PvE server or PvP?</p>

[miliskel]

 solo spec with umm..alot of aas. str 44682 wis 46482(i think fhs is 2nd in the line) str = crits wis = more damage and power help just max ur spikes in ur wizard tree. and tbh i dont know manaburn + ice/fire or fire and ice. manaburn will give u a nice spike with fhs or catalyst which would help up to u to test them tho

[Dextera]

<p>STR/WIS, max the WIS self-ward at 8.</p><p>Enhance: Magi's Shielding 10</p><p>Fire/Power Lines, get Manaburn.</p>

[Zooey]

<cite>Ammemti wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Please answer one question and I will help.</p><p>Are you on a PvE server or PvP?</p></blockquote> Oh - sorry - PvE Server that is <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Ammem]

<p>If you're on a PvE server, than I wouldn't recommend Stamina line. It has its uses, but you're much better off speccing yourself Wisdom and Agility or Strength. Also dump Magi's Shielding, as it mitgates mostly magical damage, melee damage stays roughly the same. So what I recommend is:</p><p>Wisdom: 4-4-8-8-1</p><p>Agility: 4-4-6 (once you got more points spend it like this: 4-4-8-8-1)</p><p>or Strength: 4-5-5 </p><p>In order to be more effective you need to change your strategy a little. Do not stay close, just root your enemy and move out of the melee range. This works with most enemies. You want to keep maximum distance.</p>

[Zooey]

Thanks for all your answers so far. I appreciate that <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> What kept me from choosing WIS line so far was the fact that I'd be only able to use 1-hander or dual wielders with offhand empty, but with the upcoming changes to the AA lines I think I'll give it a try (using less mana will be more than welcome). Ammemti wrote: <blockquote><p>In order to be more effective you need to change your strategy a little. Do not stay close, just root your enemy and move out of the melee range. This works with most enemies. You want to keep maximum distance. </p></blockquote>Well - that's what I do when I'm facing heroic mobs. Single non-heroics or groups of arrow down mobs I don't bother rooting, they go down fast enough with damage shield cast on myself and the occasional point blank AE.

[Ammem]

Also things will get easier once you hit level 50 and get ice Comet. You will even be able to solo caster ^^^ giants.

[simpwrx02]

<cite>Ammemti wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If you're on a PvE server, than I wouldn't recommend Stamina line. It has its uses, but you're much better off speccing yourself Wisdom and Agility or Strength. Also dump Magi's Shielding, as it mitgates mostly magical damage, melee damage stays roughly the same. So what I recommend is:</p><p>Wisdom: 4-4-8-8-1</p><p>Agility: 4-4-6 (once you got more points spend it like this: 4-4-8-8-1)</p><p>or Strength: 4-5-5 </p><p>In order to be more effective you need to change your strategy a little. Do not stay close, just root your enemy and move out of the melee range. This works with most enemies. You want to keep maximum distance.</p></blockquote><p> First off Magi shielding AAs give a regening ward against all damage it does not mitigate anything at all it is simply a ward of 53.5 points per rank at level 70.</p><p>However wisdom at 4-4-8-8-1 why you are putting 8 points into ward of sages which with the next update will only ward against spell damage if you are going wisdom it should be 4-7-4-8-1.</p><p>Also the stamana line with the next update will boost all of your casting skills by 42 at rank 8 and level 70, this will mean that you will get less resists of all of your spells including roots and stuns which use the subjagation issterad of disruption as their casting skill.  I would highly recomend the sta line if you solo  4-4-8-8 is the set up I would do  I really dont think manashield is viable as it just kills your power, it is more of a PvP tool.</p><p>I think that Sta is the core AA for soloing in the KoS AA trees, then it is just Play style that should dictate your other tree, str will probably be the best as it will allow you to get the bigger hits with more crits which will help you kill mobs faster with less spells.  Agi will aloow you to cast spells faster and more often whcih can be awesome as well, but will cost more power as your spells willl not crit and therefore do less damage than the str line.  Wisdom this will increase all spell damage by 4% with the upcoming game update and the power saving is nice for hard fights that take a lot of time.</p><p>As for the EoF keep your points into magi shielding, but when you get 21 points respec to manaburn, I would deffinately suggest staying in magi shielding line as it will really help you stay alive when your root breaks, then go Ice so you can reduce the chance of your big ice spells from deing resisted namely ice comet/nova which is your money shot once you get it. </p><p>Hope this helps some</p>

[TerabithianWhisperwi]

Well Zooey, I'm the same level as you, so maybe I can shed some relevant light for you. On the sorcerer side, I cannot recommend strongly enough for you to go from the STA line to the AGI line. You did a good thing focusing on your STA skills to get you through the earlier levels. Now it's time to become a casting machine! AGI allows you to cast everything faster, move faster while doing it, and having your refresh timers move faster as well. This pays HUGE dividends when it comes to roots, and casting faster while they are rooted. As a soloist, you want your cannon to shoot more often, and AGI does that for you. AGI AGI AGI!!!!!!! On the wizard tree, you really should pick up manaburn. It is just too good a nuke to pass up as a soloist. I have also found that the boosts in the power tree can be quite helpful if you get jumped and start running out of mana. (or while tradeskilling!) Then you can start building your magi's ward back if you want. As you said, easy mobs need not be rooted as they die quickly. however, as you start exploring the 40-50 and beyond, you'll notice fewer and fewer of those, and more groups and larger solo creatures. rooting becomes more important. Casting speeds and recast times are incredibly important

[miliskel]

for soloing agi line is not needed , u havent got to compete for dps.

[TerabithianWhisperwi]

?????????????? It's not about competing for DPS, it's about casting and refreshing faster. I can root a blue ^^^ and can cast more nukes during its duration because I can cast and refresh faster. I can also root faster, and more often. I can also back up faster if the root breaks and is resisted upon recasting because my runspeed is boosted. Faster = Better. As a soloist, this is especially true. AGI ftw.

[Force Weaver]

<cite>TerabithianWhisperwind wrote:</cite><blockquote> ?????????????? It's not about competing for DPS, it's about casting and refreshing faster. I can root a blue ^^^ and can cast more nukes during its duration because I can cast and refresh faster. I can also root faster, and more often. I can also back up faster if the root breaks and is resisted upon recasting because my runspeed is boosted. Faster = Better. As a soloist, this is especially true. AGI ftw. </blockquote> Been saying this as often as I get the chance.  More stuns as well. Agree totally.

[Zooey]

Hmmmmm So it seems to me that in the end it all comes down to personal preferences and playstyle - I guess you won't cripple your Wizzy with any of the mentioned lines ... Do I want to cast faster and get more spells off - AGI line is the way to go Do I love to see the big damage numbers - STR it is Less resists and a little more survivability - STA line More damage over all and less power consumption - go WIS Not an easy decision to be made <img src="/smilies/136dd33cba83140c7ce38db096d05aed.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  For the moment I will keep putting points into the wizard tree and respec to manaburn as soon as possible. Then I guess the changes to the AA lines have gone live and maybe it will be easier then to make up my mind about the sorcerer lines... Thanks again folks  

[Force Weaver]

<cite>simpwrx02 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Ammemti wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If you're on a PvE server, than I wouldn't recommend Stamina line. It has its uses, but you're much better off speccing yourself Wisdom and Agility or Strength. Also dump Magi's Shielding, as it mitgates mostly magical damage, melee damage stays roughly the same. So what I recommend is:</p><p>Wisdom: 4-4-8-8-1</p><p>Agility: 4-4-6 (once you got more points spend it like this: 4-4-8-8-1)</p><p>or Strength: 4-5-5 </p><p>In order to be more effective you need to change your strategy a little. Do not stay close, just root your enemy and move out of the melee range. This works with most enemies. You want to keep maximum distance.</p></blockquote><p> First off Magi shielding AAs give a regening ward against all damage it does not mitigate anything at all it is simply a ward of 53.5 points per rank at level 70.</p><p>However wisdom at 4-4-8-8-1 why you are putting 8 points into ward of sages which with the next update will only ward against spell damage if you are going wisdom it should be 4-7-4-8-1.</p><p>Also the stamana line with the next update will boost all of your casting skills by 42 at rank 8 and level 70, this will mean that you will get less resists of all of your spells including roots and stuns which use the subjagation issterad of disruption as their casting skill.  I would highly recomend the sta line if you solo  4-4-8-8 is the set up I would do  I really dont think manashield is viable as it just kills your power, it is more of a PvP tool.</p><p>I think that Sta is the core AA for soloing in the KoS AA trees, then it is just Play style that should dictate your other tree, str will probably be the best as it will allow you to get the bigger hits with more crits which will help you kill mobs faster with less spells.  Agi will aloow you to cast spells faster and more often whcih can be awesome as well, but will cost more power as your spells willl not crit and therefore do less damage than the str line.  Wisdom this will increase all spell damage by 4% with the upcoming game update and the power saving is nice for hard fights that take a lot of time.</p><p>As for the EoF keep your points into magi shielding, but when you get 21 points respec to manaburn, I would deffinately suggest staying in magi shielding line as it will really help you stay alive when your root breaks, then go Ice so you can reduce the chance of your big ice spells from deing resisted namely ice comet/nova which is your money shot once you get it. </p><p>Hope this helps some</p></blockquote><p>As I side note there was some discussion in a thread a couple months ago about what that +42 to casting skills really meant vs mob lvl.  Right now I've seen empirically that Adept III's in T7 solo mobs (same wiz,int,and gear) does see a difference in lower resist rates vs <i>solo </i>mobs.  You'll ask yourself, "resist, what is that?" Group mobs on the otherhand are a different story.  Wandering non-name heroics in outer zones the +42 will result in less resists for you.  </p><p>Instance heroic mobs on the other hand seem to be "tuned" differently.  Your +42 only matters to your resist rate if you have a "rounded" group set up.  So I've seen my resists go down with the +42 (Sta setup) in COV for instance and go up without the +42 (Str setup) in a noticeable but yet not crippling fashion.  The +42 did help.  Now I've run the same instance with and without a "scout" and "cleric" class (but with a Fury) and noticed that my +42 doesn't mean jack without their proper debuffs in the group.  I've never seen so many resist messages, I seriously thought I'd been level drained by trash mobs somehow.  So remember that at least on white heroic instance mobs your +42 won't mean as much if your team isn't debuffing properly.  Once the mobs have been debuffed then your +42 will mean something.  This must have been deliberately tuned this way.</p><p>As an aside,. there'd be less nerf-complaining if players had access to the same tools that the designers have for keeping track of every class's contribution to an encounter.  I.E. there's probably something better than ACT that shows players what their losing in terms of reducing mobs dps or enabling other classes to do more damage.  A stunned mob outputs less DPS and you as a Wiz lower a mobs dps when you stun.  A lowered physical mitigation on a mob from an inq definately increases the rate at which the mob falls etc.</p><p>Anyhow the main point is that these observations indicate that some mobs were "tuned" deliberately so that the presence of a complete group is desired.  I mean someone Sta/Agi with the right bard in the group can get a free 8% crit ( and with gear push 16%) and have the mitigation and disruption boost from the Sta line.  Comparably someone running the same instance specced Str gets their crit upped from their own aa but without a bard and without the mitigation and disruption boost from the Sta.  Your group mate can affect your DPS significantly by their choice to debuff the mob and buff the group.  </p><p>And before someone says Str + Bard = more crit, yes I've "experienced" that as well, grabbing aggro on the 3rd hit, enjoying the "paper" legendary armor I was wearing as the healer couldn't keep up on the heals vs the mobs rate dps on me as I dropped over and over.  Maybe if you had fabled armor with higher mitigation, resists, and stats you can go Str and not die like a lot of us but if you're wearing legendary or less you will really really miss the +mitigation on that Sta line. </p>

[simpwrx02]

<cite>Zooey wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hmmmmm So it seems to me that in the end it all comes down to personal preferences and playstyle - I guess you won't cripple your Wizzy with any of the mentioned lines ... Do I want to cast faster and get more spells off - AGI line is the way to go Do I love to see the big damage numbers - STR it is Less resists and a little more survivability - STA line More damage over all and less power consumption - go WIS Not an easy decision to be made <img src="/smilies/136dd33cba83140c7ce38db096d05aed.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  For the moment I will keep putting points into the wizard tree and respec to manaburn as soon as possible. Then I guess the changes to the AA lines have gone live and maybe it will be easier then to make up my mind about the sorcerer lines... Thanks again folks   </blockquote><p>Just want to clarify that sta will almost double your mitigation if you are in legendary or lesser gear especially with the bump to mit with the next update.  I base most off of level 70 however I would say the average lvl 70 mage with legendary gear is sitting around 900 mit give or take 100, and the sta adds 700 mit now with mages being in the favorable side of the diminishing returns curve for mitigation this should come close to doubling your survivability so if your roots get broke or resisted you will not drop like a wet paper bag  mearly a paper bag or an extra 2-3 hits to kill ya and with the extra focus interupts will be less often so you have a much better chance of successfully landing the root.  With GU 36 sta will also increase subjagation which affects roots and stuns in resistablity.</p><p>I prefer the str line over the agi for solo set up simple due to the extra parry you get with str if you dont get hit then you cant take damage and I would pesonally precast catalyst before pull, get back to full health, then pull with either Ice nova or other stun Flamechamber or its upgrades  for the free crit then root it while the mob is stunned.  then if your root will last long enough use a hex doll on it to lower all magic based resists. </p>