Mage Class weapons: 1-H or 2-H [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

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Puckbone

08-09-2012, 03:18 PM

As a wizard in training, I thought almost all of my dps came from my spells. After doing a little reading, I came across something that said I should time my casting to allow for my melee attacks to hit. This could increase my dps noticeably--by as much as 40% or so. I am looking forward to experimenting with this but would like some live feedback. First: Is this still true with all the changes that have taken place in the game?Second: As a wizard, is there a preference to 1-H or 2-H weapons?Third: As so far I have only soloed with my wizard, does it make a difference on which to use if soloing compared to grouping, and how many AAs I have, etc.?I know there are a ton of variables to consider, but is there a trend on which is better?TIA for all helpful responses.

Seidhkona

08-09-2012, 08:01 PM

<cite>Puckbone wrote:</cite><blockquote>As a wizard in training, I thought almost all of my dps came from my spells. After doing a little reading, I came across something that said I should time my casting to allow for my melee attacks to hit. This could increase my dps noticeably--by as much as 40% or so. I am looking forward to experimenting with this but would like some live feedback. First: Is this still true with all the changes that have taken place in the game?Second: As a wizard, is there a preference to 1-H or 2-H weapons?Third: As so far I have only soloed with my wizard, does it make a difference on which to use if soloing compared to grouping, and how many AAs I have, etc.?I know there are a ton of variables to consider, but is there a trend on which is better?TIA for all helpful responses.</blockquote>First off, every mage needs a sense of humor about dying. We wear tissue paper armor and we go "squish" a lot.Soloing on a wizard usually means "root and nuke". You want to upgrade your root and snare spells to at least Expert and Master if you can, as well as your two or three biggest nukes. The way a solo wizard fight goes is: root the mob. Nuke it, maybe nuke it again. ROOT! Back up a few steps if needed. NUKE! Rinse and repeat until creature is dead-o.If you are in a group where there is a tank, and the tank is successfully keeping the monsters faced away from you, sure, step up within melee range and swing that wand or staff. If the monster is doing big area attacks that are smacking you, back out and just cast spells and let the tank be the one who stands in close.I can't recall if it's part of the standard UI, but certainly <a href="http://www.eq2interface.com/downloads/index.php?cid=99" target="_blank">you can get interface pieces</a> that will show you an autoattack bar. There's one built into Profit UI and probably the other big UIs as well. Really, as a caster, just don't queue up a stack of spells. Fire one, let it hit, fire another. That slight gap between spells is all you need to allow your melee autoattack (or spell autoattack if you have the kind of ranged wand that does this) to fire.For me, one vs. two hands isn't the question. The real question is: Are my stats better with this here 2-H staff, or with this 1-H weapon + this off-hand book/tablet/wand/totem/whatever?Sometimes you can get better stats with two separate items, and more adornment slots. Sometimes you will have a staff that leaves the combo in the dust. You just have to look at the items and figure which combo is better. For this reason, when you get a good 1H or 2H, hold on to even if it's just in the bank until you outlevel it or get something better. Because tomorrow you may get a nice off-hand that will make you want to switch back to a 1H.You saw me say "adornment slots" in the paragraph above. Adornments are (usually) player made gem-looking things that you can stick on your weapons. They can increase various stats. At lower levels, you may want to check the broker by searching for adornment and for the slot, so adornment + head, for example, and a level range up to but not exceeding that of the item being adorned. Using adornments is one way to make you a bigger badder caster.Good armor and spells are also part of making life easier. You are automatically given apprentice-level spells. These can be upgraded to Adept, Expert or Master, and each does bigger better damage or roots or whatever than the lower levels of that spell. What armor and shield is to a tank, spell scrolls are for the mage!Try to harvest a little everywhere you go, ESPECIALLY roots, soft metal ore, and wood. Occasionally you will come up with rare harvests. Rare roots can be made into mastercrafted cloth armor by a tailor, while the jeweler can take any rare gems you find and make +INT jewelry. Rare wood can be made into a mastercrafted staff or wand by a woodworker. The rare gems are used by sages to make mage Expert spells, so keep a sharp eye out for those!Better yet, if you harvest a bit here and there as you travel, any common harvests can either be used for your own crafting or sold on the broker. Any rare harvests you don't need will usually sell for very good money on the broker. And while you are harvesting, you'll tend to come up with more shinies, any of which you don't need can go on the broker (some sell at astronomical prices, check the broker for butterflies!)<img src="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/008/c/7/gullveig_signature_by_sigrdrifa1-d36p6cf.jpg" width="500" height="150" />

Freejazzlive

08-10-2012, 07:52 PM

As for 1-H vs 2-H, IMO it's mostly a matter of personal taste. I prefer 1-H & an off-hand item, because I hate watching my character running around with a big stick strapped to his back, & because I think that 2 items look cooler than 1.Other people may have alternate preferences on that, & that's cool too.

zehly

08-13-2012, 12:05 AM

I've not played my wizard in some time, and need to polish him, so I'm not up to date on everything wizard (but I know how to buff them, hehe). That being said, as an Illusionist (and Enchanter in general), "crush" damage is the top of my parse. I have 15% AE chance (from AA), 600+ multi-attack, 200 DPS, and 160 haste. That means I'm doing a *LOT* of melee damage.I quite enjoy grouping with melee groups, just as much as caster groups (though I really like stacked caster groups, too...). I do get an AA that increases melee range by 100%, that comes in very useful. Nevertheless, I'm up in the action, and this does make me more likely to get blood on my robe (oftentimes, my own). That being said, anything that can be done to maximize the encounter DPS gets the mobs deader, faster.A guildie once told me, and I've never thought to question his expertise, that a 2 handed staff will out-perform a 1h dagger or wand. Again, I've never questioned it, but since I don't know everything, I'll put it to the test and run some test dummies to see how it goes, then let you know my experience.What I can tell you is this: if you plan to do any melee at end-game, you're going to need lotsa +CPSR (crushing, piercing, slashing, ranged), but as a Wizard, I'm almost certain that you're going to want more of the +DMOS (disruption, ministration, ordination, and subjugation) as spell resists on your nukes can really lower your DPS. I'm currently adorned with 6 (or 8, I can't remember) of the +21 CPSR adornments.As the above poster noted, though, I think the stats of the items (not just damage rating) should also play a very big part of your decision making process. If you can get +300 INT, say, from a wand and an offhand, instead of +275 from a 2h, it may be wise to pay very close attention to the rest of the stats to see if those are upgrades, as well. And of course, run through some epic dummies to see how things pan out.