Good & Bad : Wizards

[-Avalon-]

Wizard is listed as a controller, but I do not see a great deal of push/pull/slide in their repertoire. Mostly just low damage abilities with AoE capability, long ranges, and some minor de-buff style effects.

Which makes them 2nd in controlling to someone like a Swordmage(a defender!), 4th in line for damage behind the strikers, no healing, and no armor or hp...

What is their purpose really and can someone please give me the advantages that make a wizard "the one you want to play if you..." as they put it in the books...

 

[Rafe]

They control the battlefield, partially by doing damage to multiple enemies as well as creating or altering advantageous terrain to hinder and damage enemies. if you're looking to force movement, the Warlord is more that kind of "controller." They don't have low damage. Hitting 3 people at once for 9 damage each is quite good (using Scorching Burst or Thunderwave, for instance). Now imagine doing the same damage and also knocking them prone and turning the area of effect into difficult terrain.

I'm playing a Wizard and it's a blast. Part of it is having access to rituals (very handy), having diverse skills compared to the rest of my party and being able to do the above: limiting terrain options for enemies and damaging multiple enemies at once. With Int 20, my AC is close to both the Defender's and the Strikers' ACs. My attack rolls are really good because I target Reflex, Fort or Will and not AC.

It depends on what you want in a class.

 

[abyssaldeath]

Also at higher levels their powers can bypass resistances because they tend to have multiple key words.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Involuntary movement to single targets is not the controller's bag. If you read the descriptions of the roles early in the PH, the Controller is primarily about AE offense, and 'subtle' condition-inflicting affects. Terrain modification/area denial also seems to be part of it. There are very few 'wall' spells outside the wizard class, for instance, and a number of wizard attack spells stick around and do damage to anyone who enteres thier area.

 

[Keenath]

You've just misunderstood what a controller is.

The PHB explains it on page 16:
Controllers deal with large numbers of enemies at the same time. They favor offense over defense, using powers that deal damage to multiple foes at once, as well as subtler powers that weaken, confuse, or delay their foes.

I didn't see anything about push, pull, or slide there.

A controller isn't about moving enemies around; it's about what MMOs call "crowd control" -- that is, delaying and disrupting enemies so that the heavy hitters only have to deal with two or three at a time and don't get overwhelmed. D&D adds an extra element with the use of area spells versus minion (who tend to overload a defender's stickiness through sheer numbers).

A wizard fulfills that role not by shoving people, but by having lots of effects that cause slow and immobilize, knock enemies prone, and create difficult terrain. A wizard can't lock enemies down like a defender can, but he can slow them down so that the defender-striker side of the team don't get swarmed, or put up walls and clouds to stop the back line from being able to effectively attack past the brute squad.

Against a single enemy, a controller is a lot weaker; his main role there is just to throw damage and try to hamper the enemy as much as he can. Thus, wizards also have access to a number of single-target disruption spells, like Ice Tomb, Disintegrate, or Mesmeric Hold, which can take one tough enemy and stop him from just rampaging around at will. (Note that a lot of those spells, like Mesmeric Hold and Force Volley, give you an option to work more effectively on one target, or spread out to hamper a group, thus allowing them to fulfill both halves of the wizard's job.)

One blogger noted that a controller who does his job right will probably rarely get recognition for it. He's not very flashy with his purely mediocre damage numbers, and it's not easy to see the turn-to-turn benefits of dropping Slow on a half-dozen orcs or making the bad guys go around a big patch of ice (or fall down in it). The fighter will get cheers for taking out an ogre with one axe critical, but they typically won't notice that without your intervention, the swarm of goblins would've sneak-attacked the cleric to death. The controller "wins" when he forces the enemy into a bad strategic position -- that is, by stopping potential problems before they start. And you rarely get kudos for things that didn't happen.

 

[yesnomu]

Wizards get the best powers for general status effects. They cause the best effects, to the most enemies, the earliest. Nothing besides Color Spray dazes so many enemies per encounter at level 3-- you can lead off each battle with it (and a wizard ought to have Improved Initiative), and both seriously nerf your enemies' first round damage and give your buddies a better chance to badly hurt them.

Wizards have the longest effects on the battles, too, with the most Sustainable and (save ends) powers. And not just Sleep! They also get the best level 1 pure damage power: Flaming Sphere. It's fairly weak round-by-round, but it stacks up over the entire fight. You can stick it right behind your enemies, then stand back and let the sphere take care of them.

It's hard to be a good controller early on, spells only have the lightest effects at this point, and your single-target damage isn't anything to speak of. (And get used to rolling the smallest dice, by the way.) But eventually you'll be basically winning the battle by yourself. At level 30, you'll be opening every fight with Legion's Hold, and at that point you can just sit back and let your minio--err, party members take care of it for you. Maybe orb a guy's saves if he looks mean, but it ain't no biggie.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The name "Controller" might be misleading.

A less misleading but perhaps too strange sounding label would "Shaper", as in one who shapes the battlefield and pace of combat.

 

[DracoSuave]

Regardless, Wizards are not easily understood by a lot of people. They're the most YourMileageMayVary class in the game, and some people can't seem to get the effectiveness out of them that others can.

It's hard to explain why this is, but you either grok it, or you don't. But you have to play one, you can't just understand it on paper.

If you've ever played City of Heroes, it's kinda like how Fire and Illusion Controllers work. They don't -seem- to have a ton of enemy stoppage on paper, yet somehow they manage to do so and quite effectively -in the right hands.-

 

[Milambus]

Regardless, Wizards are not easily understood by a lot of people. They're the most YourMileageMayVary class in the game, and some people can't seem to get the effectiveness out of them that others can.

It's hard to explain why this is, but you either grok it, or you don't. But you have to play one, you can't just understand it on paper.

If you've ever played City of Heroes, it's kinda like how Fire and Illusion Controllers work. They don't -seem- to have a ton of enemy stoppage on paper, yet somehow they manage to do so and quite effectively -in the right hands.-

I would also say that you need to be in the right group for it to work. A group that is constantly running off and spliting up is going to make a wizards job much more difficult. A group that sits back a bit more, letting the wizard toss out his area spells and THEN rushes in works much better.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

It's hard to explain why this is, but you either grok it, or you don't. But you have to play one, you can't just understand it on paper.

I have a simple piece of advice: If in doubt, play a Striker.

You may have more trouble finishing off some encounters than a (theoretically) more optimized party, but at least you are likely to have fun. And being Striker heavy means enemies will be dying along the way.

If you cannot grok why playing a different character is "better" than playing a Striker, then you probably want to play a Striker.