returned player, wizard questions

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Hungry Dark, Jul 1, 2014.

  1. Hungry Dark Journeyman

    So I came back after about 10 years gone (last I remember, I think GoD was the newest expansion), and I've been playing a wizard for a couple of months. It's been fun, although I'm hammering out some issues with All Access and all the confusing information out there about subscriptions, expansions and whatnot.

    At this point, though, I'm generating some questions about Wizards that the now-sparse population doesn't seem equipped to answer, so I thought I'd ask them here. My wizard is currently level 78.

    1) The Flashfires line. It has a backlash effect, and I know the effect dots me, but it also has a cast counter (it seems to poof if I cast my big fire nuke, although I'm not 100% certain about that). Just what does the backlash effect do besides dot me? Zam is woefully unhelpful here.

    2) Does Tonic of Resonant Fire stack with Pyromancy? What about Fury of Ro? I seem to use fire, mostly, so this is a concern, but I have trouble telling spell info from Zam and Lucy apart. I don't want to buy tonics if they block my better DPS abilities.

    3) Which of the Frenzied Destruction AAs is generally most popular? I've been using Prolonged... I figure if I'm going to spend extra mana, I may as well get ALL the bang I can for my buck, so to speak.

    4) Chaining nukes. I've been chaining Chaos and Wildmagic (with Force of Will AA) until I get Gift of Mana, and then casting my big fire nuke. However, some wizards suggest I just chain my best big nukes (in this case, Sothgar's Flame and Ethereal Conflagration), as the downtime I experience would be minor compared to the increased kill rate. What is generally the more effective method overall?

    5) Just what IS the damage of Mana Burn, Blast, Blaze and Volatile? At what point is it worthwhile to use them? Do I keep them all on-hand or just the biggest one?

    6) What does Ward of Destruction do, damage-wise? It seems to not really do anything.

    7) What is the per-rank increase of SCFM? I've heard 2% per rank... is this accurate?

    8) What is the Impel line of spells supposed to do? All it does is make me hop a little. It's awful.

    Sorry, these questions have been building for a few weeks. I finally made a forum account and figured I'd get them all asked. Thanks!
  2. Sheaffer Augur

    I'm not the most technically inclined wizard but I do know a little bit so I'll answer as much as I can.


    2) I'm 96% sure it does...as far as I know it just adds some extra damage to each nuke
    3) I don't know anyone who uses anything other than prolonged destruction
    4) I suggest you use your biggest nukes as often as possible while you have mana and then also harvest as much as possible. If you have less than 70% mana, harvest should never be up. If you hit your AA and spell harvest as much as you can, you'll have more mana to use on bigger nukes. If you start running low on mana then yes you could start using the smaller ones.
  3. Brohg Augur

    Flashfires recourse does exactly what you've come to understand. It boosts the next "real" (3s+ cast time, so either Sothgar or Ethereal) fire nuke you cast, but dots you until you cast one. That's all it's doing. Cold Snap does the same thing on the ice side. Cloudburst is different, it has bigger damage itself but the trigger provides no boost, so it just dots you until it runs out and also roots you.

    Tonic does not stack with Pyromancy, so you likely won't be using the potions full time. When you move off of the all-fire setup, the Tonic of Resonant Elemental can be a great boost, since it's not picky about what you're casting and doesn't take up debuff slots that a necro may want for much better dots than Pyro.

    Fury of Ro is a straight damage add, not a proc, so it piles on just fine. Use it all the time.

    Prolonged is more powerful, the only reason to use Sustained is if Prolonged drives you out of mana too savagely, and so makes you unable to cast.

    I disliked Chaos line for its entire run as a possible option. Damage just toooo low. The Wildmagic+Chaos plan of farming for Gifts of Magic is super efficient (depending on the stuff you have this can be a zero expenditure or even mana-gaining plan), but you won't have your best foot forward going that way. As Sheaffer said, you should be Harvesting every time its up, so definitely spend enough to get full benefit of that. Also, if you have any mana left when you get OOC regen ever, then you probably weren't spending enough beforehand. Stick with your Wildmagic and Flashfires, but make Sothgar your third spell in rotation while fishing for Gift of Magic, instead of Chaos, unless you're under 30% or whatever mana. When you're low, then you do the hyper-efficient plan.

    Forget about Mana Burn. Just ignore that whole line of AA. When it got wholloped with the nerfbat, it deserved it. It wouldn't, now, I think, but that's neither here nor there. Pretend they don't exist.

    Mobs have to be right on top of Ward for it to hit them, and then it zings em for very little. Very little like "kills Orc Pawn but not Orc Legionnaire" very little.

    All the crit AAs including Dragons of Norrath progression thingy add up to 39% normal crit rate at level 100.

    Impel is trying to jump you forward, but is interacting poorly with your Levitation buff. Congrats on getting a spell gem back since you never have to mem that again. Netherstep AA will work much better when you get that.
  4. Mithrandyr Augur

    http://eqaasearch.org/aainfo.asp?Page=1&search_fd1=*spell casting fury mastery*
    Rank 1-6 +2%. Rank 7-23 +1%.
    It's a continuation of the shadowstep line that was intended as an in-zone escape (as opposed to evacuate or gate). Unfortunately it has problems with geography (running into a hill or rock stops you). In a select few situations, it can give you enough distance not to get hit but not really worth it. The AA directional shadowsteps are awesome though. They also have the added bonus of putting you on the ground when falling.
  5. Hungry Dark Journeyman

    Thanks for all the info! This will really help me reshape my gameplay style, especially the bit about rotating wildmagic, flashfires and sothgar for GoM procs!

    You all have been really helpful. :D
  6. Thax New Member

  7. Hawklight Yandli Elder

    Agreed don't invest any AAs in Damage Ward.

    Go prolonged or go home!

    Manaburn line can have its uses but is situational. Just test drive your toon to see if a situation turrns up for this type of damage. In the long run it won't have much bearing. THere are better AAs than this line.
  8. nodontcarekkthxbye Augur


    How much does flashfires recourse boost your next nuke? It just says increase spell damage (1077) on allahkhazams. General nuke says decrease hitopints. So, what does that actually mean, the 1077?