11 replies to this topic

[Garm1]

I'm making this topic since the main warlock thread seems out of date: I've gotten bored with my sniper so I'm dusting off the wizard, planning on leveling, doing the trans thingetc but was wondering if there was a cookie cutter warlock build to follow for skill points? I only do pvm, no woe/pvp stuff. Pre-warlock as high wizard is it right to assume the only real requirements are SG/LoV 10 for TIs? I have no idea what to do with warlock though, when that time comes.

Thanks for any help.

[mikayel]

You have kind of two end game builds that are popular -- Comet or Tetra. If you're going for Tetra then you have to max 4 of the spells anyway (I'll assume you'll max Crimson Rock anyway) which will eat like 40 of your skill points, then if you max Recognized Spell you'll use 50 of them. So... that kind of self builds. Comet build gives more variety, of which I'd recommend maxing Crimson Rock (main leveling skill), Chain Lightning (great to spam on MVPs if you have magic strings), and Jack Frost (great crowd control and good for soloing). I also personally love Intensification and Soul Expansion, as Soul Expansion is a great tagger spell for quickly running around and dealing with individual enemies of varying elements. With Intensification, it turns into a very nice killing spell for that 1 minute. 

SG level 10 is useful -- LoV you'll only really need for leveling until Warlock, but you can just do a skill reset when you job change (skill reset is free even if you are 3rd class, so long as you're 99.)

 

I actually got waterball as a warlock cuz I had spare points. 

 

Things you should obviously max as a hi-wizard: Mystical Amp, Soul Drain, Storm Gust. 

 

Things I'd recommend getting as a magician (either early on or later when you reset): Increased SP recovery 10, Safety Wall 10, and Sight. The other spells won't matter so only take them as pre-reqs or if you enjoy them (I used soul strike and fireball a lot as a hiwiz so take what you like -- again, the skill reset is free.)

Edited by mikayel, 03 March 2015 - 06:43 PM.

[Garm1]

You have kind of two end game builds that are popular -- Comet or Tetra. If you're going for Tetra then you have to max 4 of the spells anyway (I'll assume you'll max Crimson Rock anyway) which will eat like 40 of your skill points, then if you max Recognized Spell you'll use 50 of them. So... that kind of self builds. Comet build gives more variety, of which I'd recommend maxing Crimson Rock (main leveling skill), Chain Lightning (great to spam on MVPs if you have magic strings), and Jack Frost (great crowd control and good for soloing). I also personally love Intensification and Soul Expansion, as Soul Expansion is a great tagger spell for quickly running around and dealing with individual enemies of varying elements. With Intensification, it turns into a very nice killing spell for that 1 minute. 

SG level 10 is useful -- LoV you'll only really need for leveling until Warlock, but you can just do a skill reset when you job change (skill reset is free even if you are 3rd class, so long as you're 99.)

 

I actually got waterball as a warlock cuz I had spare points. 

 

Things you should obviously max as a hi-wizard: Mystical Amp, Soul Drain, Storm Gust. 

 

Things I'd recommend getting as a magician (either early on or later when you reset): Increased SP recovery 10, Safety Wall 10, and Sight. The other spells won't matter so only take them as pre-reqs or if you enjoy them (I used soul strike and fireball a lot as a hiwiz so take what you like -- again, the skill reset is free.)

I've seen many mentions of fireball lately. The last time I played wiz a lot was way back in classic when it was worthless. Would you say fireball is worth taking over FW now?

[fuyukikun]

fire ball is powerful. when i was a mage and high mage, i only use one skill fire ball since it is aoe and has short cast time. i still use it when i was wiz and high wiz. so convenient. i even never touch bolt skill since i love mobbing and tanking.
i love heaven's drive and thunderstorm also.
when you are a warlock, do what mikayel said: reset. those low tier offensive skill now only have purpose as prereq of wizard skills which are prereq of warlock skills.
fire ball is powerful. when i was a mage and high mage, i only use one skill fire ball since it is aoe and has short cast time. i still use it when i was wiz and high wiz. so convenient. i even never touch bolt skill since i love mobbing and tanking.
i love heaven's drive and thunderstorm also.
when you are a warlock, do what mikayel said: reset. those low tier offensive skill now only have purpose as prereq of wizard skills which are prereq of warlock skills.

[mikayel]

Fireball is definitely worth it in renewal, it does 330% matk (not 170%) and can 1-2 shot most enemies under 5k hp, and especially if they are earth element. Since it is also a single hit, the soft mdef is only taken off once instead of 1x per bolt like with fire bolt. As a hindsight sage, I often found using fireball with it was better than an unlinked firebolt. 

 

It's fast cast time, short delay, and AOE helps in leveling/mobbing early on when a single cast of SG or LoV would take 3x as long as killing the mob with Fireball would. I 100% recommend it over firewall on 2 conditions 1) you have a phen or orleans and 2) you have cheap healing [rudolf, witch's pumpkin hat]. Since it will take 2 casts after level 50 or so to kill enemies, you'll probably end up face tanking a little bit. Tho at this point, you could use quagmire or ice wall to help yourself out (I prefer ice wall to firewall for crowd control.)

 

I leveled until 30 using fire bolt, then went to orc village and only used fireball -- then to sidewinders and only used fireball -- then went to the low TI. 

 

I used fireball up to becoming a warlock. Near the end I was killing magmarings with SG, but I was still using fireball in the low TI. This is also without any fireball enhancing cards, I just used an SoD +7 with spell 4/3 enchant, 2 RWC pendants, and Robo eye. The rest of the stuff wasn't matk giving and so I imagine even without that stuff you can still use fireball very effectively. It's also a good run n gun spell for slower enemies you can mob (like say, golems). 

 

Now, again tho, you get free unlimited skill resets as long as you're base level 99. So even if you don't like it, you can just reset it! I use the one in Izlude just north of the center circle near the fruit vendor. 

 

Having said the above, you may find it fun to mess with fire pillar a bit too -- it's not super efficient but it's pretty fun! And again, free resets!

Edited by mikayel, 06 March 2015 - 01:23 PM.

[Garm1]

Your talk of fire pillar takes me back to the pre-comodo days of classic. That spell was insane and if memory serves me correctly you could use it to mvp a ton of stuff at lower levels, I think I tried maya in ant hell and it actually worked. Of course stuff was really crazy before comodo and I even could manage to mvp old orc hero by luring him to a bridge and fire-walling all day. I died a ton of times but it worked, wish I had the old screenshot. Another mage did come in and help me though.

This may be sort of off topic but I'm really struggling with leveling my wizard right now. I'm aware the class is pretty underpowered, especially in a solo environment, but I enjoy it..all I have is a phen and heal clip, the rest of my gear sucks pretty badly except for an old immune muffler I've had for a looong time. I might just switch to FW for awhile until I can get a witch's pumpkin hat. Honestly, I might consider trying out a sorcerer sometime in the future once I have decent funds again.


Again, this is pretty off topic, but in terms of demand how desired are sorcs for TIs?

Edited by Garm1, 11 March 2015 - 08:25 AM.

[mikayel]

Early on you can be a pretty decent killer and/or support, later on you're basically all support. No matter what, an SP dispenser is going to be useful -- and things like striking or an endow can make the difference of whether or not a Ranger can one-shot enemies. 

The big thing about the sorc is cast time, and your efficacy as a killer depends on insta-cast or very close to it. So stuff like a spell enchanted FAW, temporal dex boots, and something like a COD will become important. 

 

Let me ask you this -- what level is your wizard and where are you grinding? Perhaps I can suggest some areas to level that are more effective. Also, are you Hi-wiz or regular wiz?

[PervySageMarty]

Problem also is Sorcs deal better damage since their formula's factor int as a multiplier and have short fixed cast times that can be reduced to nothing with an appropriate summon. All a Warlock really has going for them is the range their spells reach, which even then was severely nerfed...................realize Warlocks are backline support to kill off mobs that the Burst damage DPS units cannot finish off, nothing more............its sad they degrade from the main DPS as a wizard/high to a backline support DPS as a Warlock....

[Garm1]

Early on you can be a pretty decent killer and/or support, later on you're basically all support. No matter what, an SP dispenser is going to be useful -- and things like striking or an endow can make the difference of whether or not a Ranger can one-shot enemies. 

The big thing about the sorc is cast time, and your efficacy as a killer depends on insta-cast or very close to it. So stuff like a spell enchanted FAW, temporal dex boots, and something like a COD will become important. 

 

Let me ask you this -- what level is your wizard and where are you grinding? Perhaps I can suggest some areas to level that are more effective. Also, are you Hi-wiz or regular wiz?

 

Its been a good week and half since I've played the wiz. He's non-trans, I think 71. I believe I was attempting some of the juno bounties and just grinding on stuff like geographers. I have a heal clip but I don't know if its really that efficient for face tanking as opposed to spamming items, I might just go back to using firewall but it takes up so many points.

I'd really like to return to working on my wiz soon though, help with leveling spot recommendations is appreciated.

Edited by Garm1, 14 March 2015 - 01:20 PM.

[mikayel]

I had a bunch of stuff typed, but then chrome decided to crap out. 

 

Anyway, here's the bullet points of what I got.

 

Sidewinders on mt mjolnir will give better xp (can mob and kill with fireball or lightning storm easily) until level 80, at which point you're better partying in TI and staying there even after kill counts. Get a stringer and you'll be golden as you can spam SG fast enough to never be defenseless -- and since wizards are the really only killing class at that level range, you should be quickly snatched up into various parties. If you find you are in a party with a bunch of jokers who don't know how to play their role, leave and find a better one, you're better wasting 10 minutes looking for a new party than you are sitting in a crap one for an hour. 

 

Or, make your own. That way you can say no to the 900 or so biochemists that don't know how to pull and offer nothing other than leeching. 

 

Once you are in range, glast heim is a great spot to level with soul strike or even fireball considering undead take bonus damage from fire. This will give you a fast casting spell you can use to kite the otherwise slow enemies. 

[Garm1]

Thanks everyone, especially you, Mikayel. Your info has been invaluable to me and leveling is going a lot better now. I'm enjoying my wizard again but will the class still be desired for mid and high TIs when I get to that point?

[mikayel]

On Mid TI you'll be fine, you can serve as a killer (albeit not as efficient as a ranger) depending on the mobs [I would solo mid TI on my warlock]). On high TI you'll primarily be support -- freezing enemies is a big one with jack frost or storm gust, white imprison etc. 

 

For example with the Angra Mantises I would need two casts of CR to kill them, and so I'd often pick off stragglers when the ranger didn't one-shot or I would support the party by freezing monsters that were attacking our healer/stringer. 

 

TBH at the end game the main killers are RKs and Rangers.