Wizard Spells

[Rashak Mani]

My choices so far:

At-Will:
MM / Scorching / Ray Frost (or thunder?)

Daily:
Flaming Sphere (& Sleep)

Encounter:
Divided... Icy ?

 

[Nifft]

My spells look a lot like yours. I took MM, Scorching Burst and Thunderwave, then Force Orb (so I'd have one boss-plus-splash power), and as my dailies I picked Sleep and Flaming Sphere.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Mort_Q]

Some Area of Effect have "miss = 1/2 damage"...

Irrelevant if you're talking about Minions, since Minions never take damage from a miss. Ever.

This.

As I said, you have to roll a hit, or use a power that doesn't require a roll.

So a minion that you miss your roll against (INT vs REF in most cases) doesn't drop, regardless of whether it was Magic Missle or a Fireball.

Flaming Sphere won't kill a minion on a miss, but will kill it if it starts it's turn adjacent to it, as that part doesn't require a roll.

The same is true for Cloud of Daggers. If you miss your initial attack they're OK, however if they're dumb or scared enough (see discussion above) to try to enter (or stay in) the square with the daggers, they die.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Icy seems the best midway spell.

Its "control" because it hampers movement and might make some foes prone.

Its damage is sub-par and similar to schorching burst. Yet Force Orb requires foes to be adjacent... so at the very best you get 2 or 3 targets.

 

[Rashak Mani]

My spells look a lot like yours. I took MM, Scorching Burst and Thunderwave, then Force Orb (so I'd have one boss-plus-splash power), and as my dailies I picked Sleep and Flaming Sphere.

Cheers, -- N

I like ray of frost because its vs. FORT. The slow effect is nice. Still... what has been said about AOOs might change my mind to Thunderwave...

ForceOrb is nice because you can use it in the middle of your friends... secondary hits are only against enemies.

You definetely convinced me of Flaming Sphere. Acid Arrow against a cluster is way better and dramatic... but otherwise Flaming Sphere delivers guaranteed damage round after round.

 

[Aloïsius]

I like thunderwave... Push targets close together, spent an action point, maximise your next spell upon them.

In 4e, there are more opponents than in 3e, and they are more mobile. I chose thunderwave, ray of frost, icy terrain, flaming sphere, sleep and acid arrow... I hope it will be helpful against those damned shifty kobolds (we are in an ambush in our PbP campaign...)

 

[Nifft]

I like ray of frost because its vs. FORT. The slow effect is nice. Still... what has been said about AOOs might change my mind to Thunderwave...

ForceOrb is nice because you can use it in the middle of your friends... secondary hits are only against enemies.

You definetely convinced me of Flaming Sphere. Acid Arrow against a cluster is way better and dramatic... but otherwise Flaming Sphere delivers guaranteed damage round after round.

Thunderwave is also vs. Fort, and I agree you should choose Fort and Will powers (or no-save powers) when you can, since MM and SBurst already cover Reflex pretty well.

If there's no Warlord in your party, you may want to drop MM (!!!) for Ray of Frost. I kept MM so I could stay near our party's archer.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Rashak Mani]

Is picking a Thiefling Wizard for that feat with +1/+1 to fire spells worthwhile ?

 

[Nifft]

Is picking a Thiefling Wizard for that feat with +1/+1 to fire spells worthwhile ?

It's a valid choice.

The Charisma boost will also help you pick up Astral Fire, and (at Paragon tier) Spell Focus.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Rashak Mani]

Gaming Session report:

So I picked Thunderwave against all my expectations. It still is very hard to use without hitting allies. I seriously considered using it despite the dwarf being in the area once.

Since we hit a lot of kobolds it was quite useful... but I missed having the Cold Ray and being able to really mess up 1 monster's movement. Overall I think having area spells against Ref and against Fort is quite useful. Single strikes are the domain of fighters and tanks.

Force Orb worked quite well... its a great spell to spend an action point on... especially with 3-4 targets close by. Really pumps the damage output up.

Oh... and flaming sphere was a lot of fun. Thanks for the tip. The rogue bitched a lot about it though since it was usually hot on the otherside of monsters.