Ray of Frost and Cloud of Daggers; Red Headed Stepchildren of Wizard At-Wills?

[keterys]

I was actually think staff focus early, orb later.

I was also thinking of switching scorching burst to ray of frost later. But, yes, humans get very nice benefit for being a wizard.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I think Cloud of Daggers would be cool if it's placed near a fighter who can tide of iron a monster into it, or if the monster tries to shift away the fighter can immobilize him.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I think Cloud of Daggers would be cool if it's placed near a fighter who can tide of iron a monster into it, or if the monster tries to shift away the fighter can immobilize him.

We did this exact thing.

We had a kobold dragon shield.

The wizard cast cloud of daggers on him.

On his turn, he took damage, then moved out of the square.

On my turn I used unbalancing strike (I think - the rogue encounter power that lets you shift someone 2 squares) to put him back in the square.

Our warlord moved up to him, and he used his kobold power to shift away, out of the square and set up a flank on our fighter.

The fighter used tide of iron to shove him back into the square, marking him and causing damage again.

The wizard was all ready to use orb mastery to extend the spell, but the kobold died from the damage after the tide of iron.

All up he took 1d6+int+3xwis mod.

If he'd survived he'd have been up for another dose or two of wis mod damage.

 

[Mezzer]

We did this exact thing.

We had a kobold dragon shield.

The wizard cast cloud of daggers on him.

On his turn, he took damage, then moved out of the square.

On my turn I used unbalancing strike (I think - the rogue encounter power that lets you shift someone 2 squares) to put him back in the square.

Our warlord moved up to him, and he used his kobold power to shift away, out of the square and set up a flank on our fighter.

The fighter used tide of iron to shove him back into the square, marking him and causing damage again.

The wizard was all ready to use orb mastery to extend the spell, but the kobold died from the damage after the tide of iron.

All up he took 1d6+int+3xwis mod.

If he'd survived he'd have been up for another dose or two of wis mod damage.

What I like the most about Cloud of Daggers is that it's a spell which can, given creative use, be far better than one would assume at first glance, and to me that's just Wizarding at it's best, even if your allies are doing some of it.

 

[helium3]

Not really. Stir the Hornet's Nest is unique (for now) because it specifies ranged basic attack, but Warlords have a number of powers that grant basic attacks - so they can work with either melee or range.

Yeah, but a lot of those don't really scream "use me so the Wizard can fire off a magic missile." Maybe in some sort of situation where you desperately need to keep a creature from fleeing but only the wizard has the range. Hard to imagine that'll happen often enough to counter a different power that'll get more mileage in general play.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Cloud of Daggers is the highest damage single-target wizard at-will (unless you really sacked wis, which is a dreadful choice for a wizard),

Why is sacking Wis a dreadful choice for Wizard? By my count, only three powers depend on it: the 1st level at-wills Cloud of Daggers and Thunderwave, and the 27th level Encounter spell Confusion.

You can play a perfectly effective wizard with an 8 Wis, if you pick MM and Scorching Burst as your at-wills. And they shall call you.... Tim?

 

[Rechan]

Why is sacking Wis a dreadful choice for Wizard? By my count, only three powers depend on it: the 1st level at-wills Cloud of Daggers and Thunderwave, and the 27th level Encounter spell Confusion.

Several of the feats also use wisdom.

 

[keterys]

Mostly because Orb is soooo good at higher level with a good Wis

 

[Zaruthustran]

Several of the feats also use wisdom.

Thanks--I see them now. Burning Blizzard, Dark Fury, and Expanded Spellbook.

 

[Rechan]

Thanks--I see them now. Burning Blizzard, Dark Fury, and Expanded Spellbook.

Spell accuracy.