Beserker Ice Wizard! - Check out the Wizard you will surely hate

[aielman80]

This is the wizard I am currently running in a game and I thought I would see what everyone thought about it. The general strategy of this wizard is to use cold spells and potent rebirth to gain a almost constant +4 to all attacks and +8 to damage (with cold - +3 with all others). Yes you read that right, my goal is to run out and die, and then use my item dailies/utility powers to get back behind the front lines. Long term the goal is to push towards summoning (against large groups of foes) and maximizing face of death - by far one of the wizards most ridiculous powers (fear and illusion keywords make this power very easy to reduce saves). At lvl 21, I should be able to reduce all saves for this power by 10+ and use face of death in the first 5 encounters of every day. (archmage)

I dont have it listed, but I am getting the illusionist gloves and the armor of dark deeds asap.


====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Kenny Wizzard, level 11
Deva, Wizard, Rimetongue Caller
Build: Control Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Orb of Imposition

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 9, Con 12, Dex 11, Int 23, Wis 18, Cha 13.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 11, Dex 10, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 12.


AC: 26 Fort: 17 Reflex: 23 Will: 22
HP: 62 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 15

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +16, Insight +14, History +18, Religion +18

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +6, Bluff +6, Diplomacy +6, Dungeoneering +9, Endurance +6, Heal +9, Intimidate +6, Nature +9, Perception +9, Stealth +5, Streetwise +6, Thievery +5, Athletics +4

FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Enlarge Spell
Level 2: Implement Expertise (orb)
Level 4: Burning Blizzard (retrained to Spell Focus at Level 11)
Level 6: Wintertouched
Level 8: Potent Rebirth
Level 10: Armor Proficiency (Leather)
Level 11: Lasting Frost

POWERS
Wizard at-will 1: Chilling Cloud
Wizard at-will 1: Thunderwave
Wizard encounter 1: Icy Terrain
Wizard daily 1: Freezing Cloud
Wizard daily 1 Spellbook: Flaming Sphere
Wizard utility 2: Shield
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Feather Fall
Wizard encounter 3: Color Spray
Wizard daily 5: Visions of Avarice
Wizard daily 5 Spellbook: Stinking Cloud
Wizard utility 6: Wizard's Escape
Wizard utility 6 Spellbook: Levitate
Wizard encounter 7: Winter's Wrath
Wizard daily 9: Face of Death
Wizard daily 9 Spellbook: Ice Storm
Wizard utility 10: Illusory Wall
Wizard utility 10 Spellbook: Mass Resistance

ITEMS
Spellbook, Talon Amulet +1, Feytouched Drowmesh +3, Orb of Mental Dominion +3, Phrenic Crown (heroic tier), Curse Eye Tattoo (heroic tier), Orb of Fickle Fate +1, Fundamental Ice (heroic tier), Acrobat Boots (heroic tier)
RITUALS
Comprehend Language, Tenser's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Mindshape Warwing Drake, Hand of Fate, Chameleon's Cloak, Remove Affliction
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

 

[aielman80]

The item list is built from the standard +1, 0, -1, -1 worth of gold.

 

[LightPhoenix]

If the goal is to run out and die, then get behind lines after being revived, you almost have to go with Expeditious Retreat at level 2. It's far easier than using a bunch of item powers for the purpose.

At 5th level, I would go with Icy Grasp, solely for flavor. Sure, it won't get the benefit from Enlarge Spell and it's not as awesome as Visions of Avarice, but it should at least be in your spellbook, in case you want something more damaging.

Levitate is the better power for avoiding melee attacks once you're back behind your comrades. Yes, you take a penalty to AC/Reflex, but most melee creatures won't be able to hit you at all. At least, that's my experience with it.

I prefer Ice Storm to Face of Death, but that's personal. You could use Mass Resistance to guard your allies against the damage.

On the subject, I've found Mass Resistance to be incredibly useful. I wouldn't ever not have it active. Let the rest of your powers do the controlling, and use this one for leader-type buffing. CB10 means you can still be well behind your allies and catch them with it.

 

[aielman80]

I may have to reconsider levitate - I hadn't thought about it in quite that way, though the reason for taking Wizards escape is to teleport out of dodge the moment I decide I have had enough damage for right now.

I considered both Icy Grasp and Ice Storm, but the biggest reasons I shied away from them are 1) I already felt like I had to many powers that attack Fort 2) I run the risk of going up against cold resistant monsters and having nothing I can throw at them. My biggest concern about Icy Grasp was actually just the fact that I was afraid it would be to easy for most creatures to escape the hold.

I considered Mass Resistance, but we have a pacifist Cleric who does insane amounts of healing so I decided we might get more use out of the power if I picked something I could use in other ways. Though as we play more paragon lvl encounters, I may yet change my mind about that one. The biggest reason I hadn't taken expedious retreat was because the DM we use tends to push us towards more encounters in a day, which makes the encounter powers alot more valuable. With a different dm that would definately be the power I would take.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Rothe_]

You could use the Arcane admixture feat to add the cold descriptor (and damage) to thunderwave, or add another type of energy to your chilling cloud. That helps a lot when you are fighting cold immune or resistant creatures, and it makes your thunderwave more potent against regular foes.