Advice for epic wizard (or sorc)?

Myrdyr · Post by **Myrdyr** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:39 pm

I finally got my wizard to epic levels. He has a dragon knight and greater spell focus in evo, necro, and conj. However, I'm having a heck of a time against Amazons and Ice Giants even with a party member or two to tank for me. There's no way I'm going to take him into the planes without some advice on the finer points of spellcasting.

Currently I buff myself, other party members, and my summon with stat boosts, flame weapon, imp invis, stoneskin, premo, etc. To slow opponents, I use Grease, sometimes Darkness and/or web as well. For damage I use Wail, finger, Isaac's, and Firebrand. What else should I learn to use before venturing into planes?

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:40 pm

Bigsbies work very well in Halls of the Dead, a lot of creatures have high SR but can bigsbied.

watchwood · Post by **watchwood** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:55 pm

Yup, spam the bigby.

Post by **Amoenotep** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:08 pm

a well placed/planned bigby can help slow opponents so friends can disable them. Finger will be useless at higher lvls as most things can survive the fort saves with no problem. only use 1 or 2 death spells per rest and maximize on hinderance if your with a party. if your alone maximize your disable/max damage spells so your summon can help you kill things.

CrazyJ · Post by **CrazyJ** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:38 am

Yep... at the high levels, Clerics are the only ones with a good fort-save instakill, since most of the planar mobs are immune to death spells, and Implode doesn't get counted as one.

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:07 am

Implode bypasses Death Ward, because it can only target one person for insta-death at level 9 while the mage's level 9 Wail has a collossal range. Sounds fair to me.

Implode isn't too great in planes, because a lot of those creatures have really good fortitude. Especially a lot of the Dwarves. If you want to even be succesful at it, you're going to have to invest in the DC. I could give a list of implodeable planar objects though...

CrazyJ · Post by **CrazyJ** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:12 pm

A focused wis cleric can implode his way through most of the elemental planes by the mid-20s with a DK summon tanking.

I was thinking more about Finger of Death than Implode.... Sorcs only get 3 level 9 spells according to the NS wiki... Mord's, Bigby, Time Stop, and I'm out of slots.

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:14 pm

Oh, in the Elemental Planes a focused cleric can do it no sweat with a few exceptions.

CrazyJ · Post by **CrazyJ** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:16 pm

I just found out that I can handle small groups of Ice Giants at 21.

Grease + Great Thunderclap keeps about 80% of them immobilized most of the time. Haste lets you dodge the rest... wear 'em down by spamming firebrand/etc.

Works better with sorc since you get more spells/day.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:52 pm

Yup, haven't personally tried the new Thunder Clap spell, but from reading the description it sounds fairly beastly, especially since it does dmg now too.

Lord of Darkness #1 · Post by **Lord of Darkness #1** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:03 am

Instead of starting a new thread i will just branch off of this one... Is there any way to get more than 3 diff 9th lvl spells as a sorceror.. If so let me know,, if not Let me know what spells you think are the best for sorcerors to take lvls 5 through 9.... Would be very helpful

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:31 am

9 is EASY.

Bigby's
Timestop
Mord's

Greater Spell Mantle is a good choice too, it has had it's # of spell lvl absorption increased and is Mord's immune.

8

Mind Blank <--- very group firendly, the weak willed warriors will love you.
Horrid Wilting
Bigby's

7 <--- Evocation heavy

Great Thunderclap
Bigby's
DB FB
Prism Spray
Shadowshield <--- immune death buff, Description says Immune Instant Death Effects, which sounds like Implosion to me, but that needs to be tested. (Instant death occurs from Implosion if fort save failed, therefore logically Shadowshield should protect vs Implosion)

6

IGMS
G Dispelling
Mass Haste <--- another awesome party buff
True Seeing
Bigby's
Greater Spell Breach (auto-removes protection buffs)

5

Bigby's
Firebrand (awesome party friendly spell, from description it looks like it should be less effective vs multiple enemies, just like igms, but it doesn't get diluted)
Lesser Mind Blank (use this if you want a substitute for Mind Blank)
Dismissal (bye bye bigby's)
Energy Buffer (nice bug with this one, causes hellball to do dmg with only first dmg type, all tertiary dmg types are auto-negated, this spell p\/\//\/z hellball and weapons with multiple elemental bonus dmgs)
Mestil's Acid Sheath would be a must, but the devs have nerfed this spell to virtual uselessness (on the plus side it gives a meager amount of acid dmg resistance for a finite amount of dmg)

Post by **Amoenotep** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:39 am

Implosion isn't really a death effect, which is why there is no spell protection from it. its the crashing and smashing of atoms. on a single target now.

Shadowshield is a must against casters...if used properly it will make you immune to more than just instant death effects.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:30 am

Implosion has an instant effect when it works: Death!

Post by **Binkyuk** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:39 am

Naw, Shadow Shield's death immunity stops things magically causing your life to spontaneously expire directly and for no other reason. Implosion's *direct* effect is to cause you to become very tiny very quickly and in a very random arrangement - death is just a side effect.