Wizard Build Suggestions (PHB ONLY!)

[Nifft]

For a battle mage, I'd suggest Thunderwave, Scorching Burst, and Cloud of Daggers myself. Your -real- advantage with Scorching Burst isn't -just- that it's area and can hit multiple minions... it's that it doesn't care about cover/concealment. Yes, you -can- use it to fox out a goblin in a trench shooting death at you.

Yep, Scorching Burst is fantastic in the role of cover-negation. Even if the DM doesn't use "3d" cover like trenches, it works around corners, behind pillars, and shoots through Warhog Corridorcloggers (Large Elite Brute).

Cheers, -- N

 

[KarinsDad]

Stats: 18 int is a must, honestly; you roll more attack rolls due to all the area attacks you make. 20 might or might not be overkill, but it depends on your choices. If you want to pick up a shield, you'll need 13str. For hide armor, you need 13str/13con.

The main purpose of picking up a shield, hide, and a paragon specialization is to create an Iron Mage with the absolutely best AC possible.

The advantage of a 20 Int for a Wizard is that he automatically gets +1 AC and +1 Reflex (in addition to +1 to hit and +1 damage) without taking a single feat. He doesn't have to take the Light Shield feat cause his AC and Reflex is already that high.

20 is overkill for an Orb wizard or a Wand wizard where a second ability score is needed, but not for a Staff wizard. It's not overkill for a wizard that concentrates on area effects either.

 

[Elric]

If you're only really concerned with heroic tier, I'd say: Human, 8 Str/18 (+2) Int/13 Con/13 Wis. Take Staff of Defense, Cloud of Daggers, Scorching Burst, Thunderwave. Feats: Leather Armor and two of Improved Initiative, Action Surge, Toughness.

Orb of Imposition isn't good until Paragon and if you get there you can always take the Second Implement feat.

 

[Obryn]

For a battle mage, I'd suggest Thunderwave, Scorching Burst, and Cloud of Daggers myself. Your -real- advantage with Scorching Burst isn't -just- that it's area and can hit multiple minions... it's that it doesn't care about cover/concealment. Yes, you -can- use it to fox out a goblin in a trench shooting death at you.

For clarification, I was only comparing magic missile and ray of frost. I think MM is probably one of the worst choices for a Wizard, ironically.

-O

 

[pauljathome]

I had a great time with my Eladrin thunderwaving staff wizard. The Fey Step ability can be very, very useful both for getting into good position and for occassionally getting out of trouble. My starting stats were Int 16 (18 with racial modifier), 14 con, 15 wisdom. This allowed the Staff abillity to generally be useful once an encounter. Combined with the Shield spell and Leather armour I ended up with a character quite happy to go on the front lines and help the Rogue flank.

If you're not planning on an orbizard then Flaming Sphere is, hands down, the daily power to take. It basically won several encounters at low levels.

With just the PHB you'll run out of really interesting feats quite quickly and your bonus skill as an Eladrin is better than that for a human. So about the only thing Eladrins really give up vs human is the extra at will. And, IMO, Fey Step is a lot more useful.

The thunderwave power is useful even with only a push of 2. But when you raise your Wisdom and get a magic item it can start to get very good. How useful depends on circumstances, of course, but it can often end up forcing enemies to either fight people they don't want to or to shift and charge and just get a basic attack,

 

[KarinsDad]

I think MM is probably one of the worst choices for a Wizard, ironically.

Actually, I came this close to taking Magic Missile for my recent Wizard. I finally changed it to Phantom Bolt, but it was a real tough decision.

There is something to be said for range and solid (i.e. rarely low) damage.

 

[LightPhoenix]

There is something to be said for range and solid (i.e. rarely low) damage.

Especially if you throw in Bracers of the Perfect Shot.

I think the biggest problem with MM is the lack of feats and items in the PHB that interact with it.

 

[boar]

Having played a 20 INT, 14 WIS staff wizard with scorching burst, cloud of daggers, and thunderwave, I can tell you that the build is underwhelming for a number of reasons:

1) The staff interrupt is great, and it sucks not having it.

2) It's great that CoD auto-kills minions, but if you're only targeting a single minion, either the battle is already over or you're targeting the wrong thing. Also, the 10 range is surprisingly limiting -- there were tons of instances where I'd have loved the higher range of Magic Missile.

3) That extra square of push with Thunderwave, which I thought would be really sexy, wasn't.

Based on that experience, here's what I would do now if I had to play a Wizard again:

20 INT
13 CON
13 WIS (if you care about pushing with Thunderwave)

-- or --

20 INT
14 CON
11 WIS (if you don't)

At-Will:
Thunderwave
Scorching Burst
Magic Missile

Encounter:
Force Orb
Fire Shroud

Utility:
Shield
Whatever

Daily:
Flaming Sphere
Whatever

Feats:
Leather Armor
Weapon Focus: Staff
Toughness
Weapon Expertise (at level 4)

Items:
Bracers of the Perfect Shot (+2 damage with Magic Missile)
Your pick of leather armor, neck slot, and staff (in the PHB they all suck, so do whatever)

Your AC is high, your single-target damage is way up there, and your hitpoints are passable. Boost INT and CON with your stat bumps and you'll be a rockin' addition to the party.

 

[Turtlejay]

<<stuff>>
Items:
Bracers of the Perfect Shot (+2 damage with Magic Missile)
Your pick of leather armor, neck slot, and staff (in the PHB they all suck, so do whatever)

Your AC is high, your single-target damage is way up there, and your hitpoints are passable. Boost INT and CON with your stat bumps and you'll be a rockin' addition to the party.

This was my worry. Items in the PHB are pretty thin. The AV was one of the first books out, and filled that hole quick. There are loads more good implements in the AV, but if you are just going PHB. . .not really much to write home about.

Cloud of Daggers is minion autokill, which is *something*, wheras Ray of Frost is lackluster damage and slow, which is *nothing*. Not much, anyways. Cloud of Daggers will be situational, but that is okay. You really will have one at-will you tend to use most, and your other one can be kind of situational. As a human you can have two of those. I'd not sweat it too much, since you will have at least one great option, and can retrain the others if you find yourself not using them.

Just another plug for fire shroud:
- Enemies only
- In a Burst
- Save ends fire damage
- Every encounter

I don't know why one wouldn't take it. It rocks. At low levels, you have precious little to use your orb on, so an Encounter with save ends means you can throw this out for a higher chance of a little extra damage.

I agree that the Orb is not great early on. The Staff's effect is okay, but the bonus to defense is really nice. I went with orb on the build I posted because it was more of a stand-back-and-murder wizard, but with your Rangery nature, Staff works well. Stat arrays are mutable, but I like the one you had already.

Jay

 

[Prestidigitalis]

This was my worry. Items in the PHB are pretty thin. The AV was one of the first books out, and filled that hole quick. There are loads more good implements in the AV, but if you are just going PHB. . .not really much to write home about.

Is it clear that the DM won't be pulling in items from other books? I know it's common to say "Core books only", but it usually goes without saying that the DM can use anything they want.

Just to take it to the point of absurdity: there are no monsters in the PHB, so clearly "PHB only" means there will be no monsters in the game.

It's far more likely that "PHB only" is a restriction on the players and only the players. Put those Bracers of the Perfect Shot on your wish list.