The first posts present various opinions on how to equip your mage once
you have a LVL high enough to choose amongst the best items out there
Naj's vs Full
Plate - by The-Mule / DevourerOfSouls / Cauldron-Born
[on of the really few sensible posts
about this subject]
Fashions for mages
- how to accessorize... - by Bostic
Mage
Setup - by SuSu
and now the rest :-)
Best weapon
for a sorcerer - by John
The Way of the
Wizard: your spells - by Lok (Snakegod)
more tips 4 the
new mage - by DarkDemon
Building a mage
from scratch - by Boots
General low level
mage tips - by Jeddak
Friendly fire got you
down ? (mage cooperation tips) - by Woody(BNM)
Wizardry 101: Quick
Spells and Teamwork - by Woody(BNM)
How to build up
a sorceror - by Kevin Martin
I have for a few days wanted to post my views on this whole "contraversial"
issue (I have been busy...curses to the school band practices!). So, now that I
have the time, I can vent these frustrations =) I won't bother to post the stats
on "The-Mule" (my sorceror) - I have done this in a couple of posts this week
for various reasons, so you can refer to them if you are truly curious. My
preference in the matter is to have a balance between armor/spell levels/mana -
a combination that Bostic noted as a rarity today in a post on the same subject.
My armor class is nothing to write home about, but I do not have what might be
called a worthless
protection factor (as some sorcerors who go to the
extreme with spell levels or mana). It gets me by =) and I do not have to
teleport away when faced with a crowd of knights or drakes. My mana is fairly
high, about 750...pretty self-explanatory in that more mana is better. To round
it out, most my spell levels are at level 17, which I am definately comfortable
with. Now, onward to my opinions in this never ending struggle...... =)
What I see on the most part is an attitude that would suggest that one
configuration is definately superior. There is no room for preference - as in
many venues, there has to be a superior of the two. I see good points for using
both Naj's Light Plate and the other favorite, Awesome Full Plate of Sorcery.
Each has its pluses and
minuses...so which do I choose? As you may know, I
prefer Naj's Light Plate - does this mean I am siding with the propents of
Naj's? No...most definately not. As I noted, I feel there are strong points for
both items and all the many common character configurations. The critical
difference is that I do not feel that one is superior, for IMHO, it is only an
issue of playing style and personal preference. I would no do well going to the
extremes many do go to - it would be, for me, harder to use super AC
configuration, or to wear a thinking cap. However, I can respect both sides of
the issue, and both types of players.
I think there is also merit to perhaps sampling another type of configuration just for fun. There are drastically different tactics and styles inherent to a battlemage, the same going for any powerful artillerymage.That is one of the reasons why I equip my character as I do - to get a little of "the best of both worlds". So let me reemphasize - my way is not better than anyone else's way, and vice-versa - it is merely a configuration to help me the most it can. I think many people overlook why they equip a character a certain way. The equipment should enable you to play with the style you enjoy - if you like to melee, crank up AC, if not, then use aj's...etc. It should also capitalize on tactical/stylistic strengths and pick up the slack for any weaknesses.
If you stop to think about it, would there be any arguement over this subject
if one way was definately a way to make the game easier? Do you see discussion
on postings that say things to the effect "Short Swords Are The Warrior's Best
Friend In Hell/Hell"? =) Of course not....people like what they think is best,
so let them do what they feel is positive for them. And if thier way is truly
inferior, perhaps you might ask for a friendly duel (with stakes of
course)....=) Sorry to force yet another somewhat
long post on you people, but hey, I gots to say what I gots to say! =) Thanks a
bunch!
Spell level boosters come at the expense primarily of armor class but compare all the options for the spell bosting items. Viewed in my order of effiency:
DREAMFLANGE: Gives you a one level boost, loads of magic and mana, a resistance you probably dont care about and light radius which is a mixed blessing. Overall it is a superb mages weapon unless you want to beat on something more substantial than a barrel. This deficiency is best rectified by carrying a non barrel weapon as close to a KSOH that you can obtain. (while of Slaughter may have a slightly higher damage expectation I think the smaller and more frequent damage more than offsets this)
THINKING CAP: Gives a two level boost at a cost of approximately 40 AC compared to a Royal Circlet (also gives less Mana bit some resistance) I believe it is right to carry both is you are fortunate enough to find them. The circlet also give you strength which can aid in wering full plate.
AA STAFF of ?: Gives two spell leveles vs the one provided by Dreamflange. Costs 40 or so AC for the use of a shield, as well as any other benefits from the shield. You have to balance one spell level and the staffs suffix against dreamflage and your shield. Clearly a much bigger price than that for wearing a thinking cap. My AA staff is collecting dust along with my...
NAJ'S LIGHT PLATE: Is a neat looking armor that I have never found when I was still at a level that I would really like wearing all the time. Here the trade of is up to 140 in armor class when compared to Awesome Full Plate of ???, which requires the same stregngth to wear as Demonspike. There are some levels where NLP (witch/mage levels, proably 16 too) is better but I stopped carring both because I wanted to be able to fit an object bigger then a ring in my inventory. I do not think Demonspike is the best suit of armor you can wear, having allways belived the best thing about Demonspike was the selling price (over 60K). (do the resistance and osmosis compensate for the low base of the suit?)
Those are your decisions, what you eqiup youself with is a matter of personal preference. The high AC gives you mor latitude in where you can safely stand, that is easy to see (Harmony also plays a role here). You have to decide how usefull the bigger spells are to you (or in the case of chain how detrimntal). No one has ever posted much on the difference in FBs to kill for varying spell levels, the only place I have seen a signifiant difference is against a Succubus in H/H. Personally I like the high AC route, especially in multi-player games where you may have to go to a somewhat exposed position to get a safe shot. I often us an AC 280 configuration with level 15 spells for this reason.
I will leave presenting the other side to FMF who loves to make the case that
there is nothing better than level 20 spells. But you have to go with the
equipement that best suits YOUR playing style. Bostic - 3M away from 45 and
about to level up
[ rem: Well, that was when you posted this - hope you
managed to lvl up by now :-) ]
We all know a mage doesn't need AC, so the common configuration would have to be -
Thinking Cap,
Naj's "heavy" Plate
Now comes the tough part. Do you use dreamflange and shield or a staff instead?
Dreamflange = 110 extra mana and +1 to spells level
AA staff = +2 to
spells level (depending on suffix you might get additional 60 mana.
But with dreamflange you get to wear a shield preferably emerald shield = 40-50% resist to all. Add that to your Naj's plate and thinking cap = max resist to all (75%) That leaves you with a possibility (note the word possibility) of THREE dragon's of wizardry = 360 to mana.
On the other hand, AA staff of wizardry (if maxed), you'll need at least one good obsidian ring before you can max your resist to all. This is because resistance from your TC and NLP =40%. That takes away 60 mana. (ie one less dragon prefix).
So dreamflange setup gives
+4 to spells level
+470 mana (max)
while AA staff setup gives
+5 to spells level
+360 mana (max)
Which do you prefer???
The above setup is only valid IF the fellow players are coopers. Of course,
if you are afraid of being PKed, ie playing in a public game, you'll need a
different setup. In which case AC will be important - in answer to Shaft6's
question of AC. In which case, you'll most definitely need a sword of the titans
to equip a HEAVY
plate with good AC. The best setup (I believe) in this case
would be
Emerald sword (or any one-handed weapon) of the titans
Awesome Plate of
the giants (if available)
Stormshield (to combat rogues)
one obsidian
jewelry of wizardry (with bonus to str if APOG is not
available)
two
dragon's ring of wizardry.
Note: I would recommend zodiac in place of wizardry. This is because the bonus to dex gives better AC, while decreasing your mana ever so slightly. Also zodiac gives the additional str requirement. That is if you can find an obs of zod. Else, an obs of giant/titans would work just fine. Then you can equip the other two free slots with jewelry which adds to mana.
This was inspired by a debate on how useful the haste modifier is for warriors (very). When sorcerers face triple immunes, they have to resort to hacking with a weapon (unless they want to wait all day for their golem). The question the arises, which weapon is best? Thanks to Varaya's timings, we can now compare the damage rates for normal vs. haste weapons.
[rem: You can find these timings on this page]
The best weapon for a sorcerer turns out not to be a king's sword of haste, but a king's sword of slaughter.
Here how it breaks down in real gameplay terms for a sorcerer (assuming no misses and therefore same hit%, base_dam is your damage with bare fists - 1):
Weapon Damage
per second type
------------ -----------------
------------
KSOH (+160%) ............... 54.6 +
2*base_dam (one-handed)
KSOSl (+160% +18)
.......... 75.5 + 1.67*base_dam (one-handed)
for bastard swords. The break-even point, where both swords do the same amount of damage, is when base_dam = 63. If your sorcerer has a base_dam less than 63, he will do more damage with a KSOSl. Since a L40 sorcerer with 125 Str will have a base_dam of 50, I think I can safely say a KSOSl is the ideal weapon for a sorcerer. :-) If you're willing to use a two-handed weapon, then
KStOH (+160%) .............. 62.4 + 2*base_dam
(two-handed)
KAOH (+160%) ............... 78.0 + 1.43*base_dam
(two-handed)
KAOSl (+160% +18) .......... 90.8 + 1.25*base_dam
(two-handed)
KgSOH (+160%) .............. 78.0 +
2*base_dam (two-handed)
KgSOSl (+160% +18)
......... 95.0 + 1.67*base_dam (two-handed)
Where KA is a king's great axe (12-30 base damage), KSt is a king's war staff (sorcerers swing staves as fast as a sword, which is not true for the other classes), KgS os a king's great sword. For two-handers, the KgSOSl is clearly best (better than even Messerschmidt's Reaver below). However, it gets you only 20 damage/sec more (about 15% of a sorcerer's total) than a KSOSl at the cost of being two-handed. Plotting these as a graph would be useful Just for comparison, here are the uniques of interest.
Dreamflange (1-8 +0%) ...... 7.5 + 1.67*base_dam (one-handed)
Gnarled Root (3-6 +300%) ... 30.0 + 1.67*base_dam (one-handed)
Grandfather (10-20 +70%) ... 42.5 + 1.67*base_dam (one-handed)
bastard sword OSl (6-15 +20) 50.0 + 1.67*base_dam (one-handed)
Grizzly (8-16 +200%) ....... 60.0 + 1.67*base_dam (two-handed)
Doombringer (6-15 +250%) ... 61.3 + 1.67*base_dam (one-handed)
Rod of Onan (8-16 +100%) ... 40.0 + 1.67*base_dam (two-handed)
Hellslayer (10-25 +100%) ... 43.8 + 1.25*base_dam (two-handed)
Mess's Reaver (12-30 +200%) 97.5 + 1.25*base_dam (two-handed)
However, since the +hit% is different for all these uniques, use the list
only as a general guideline. Note that a normal bastard sword of slaughter
does more damage than the Grandfather. Doombringer with a +25% hit and
Messerschmidt's Reaver with +0% hit (I omitted the fire damage since you'll only
use it against triple immunes) look like the best of the bunch. Hit% many not
matter against advocates - I've never taken a sorcerer high enough to do L16
hell/hell so I don't know how
often you guys miss them down there. If
you hit advocates all the time without any +hit%, then Messerschmidt's Reaver is
pretty nice.
If you'd like to compare a <any> sword of haste with a <any> sword of gore/carnage/slaughter for yourself, here's the formula for the break-even point:
break-even base_dam = 5*suffix - avg_dam
suffix = damage modifier of the gore/carnage/slaughter suffix
avg_dam =
average base damage of the sword + any prefix modifier
e.g. Compare a king's bastard sword of haste (+160%) with a king's bastard sword of slaughter (+160% +18).
A bastard sword does (6+15)/2 = 10.5 average damage. The king's modifier gives +160%. So avg_dam = 10.5 + 10.5*1.6 = 27.3. The slaughter suffix is +18 so suffix = 18. break-even base_dam = 5*18 - 27.3 = 62.7.
This does not work for axes; only swords, staves, and mace/hammer/mauls.
avg_dam *must* be similar for both weapons - any difference translates directly into an error in base_dam. If the avg_dam for both swords differ by 8, the base_dam you calculate will be off by up to 8. Use the average of the two swords' avg_dam to minimize this error. hit% should also be similar, since I don't account for it at all.
This only works for SORCERERS. The other classes have different attack
rates. Finally, the difference between a KSOSl and a KSOH for a L35 sorcerer
with 90 Str is not huge - only about 10 points/sec or 9% of total
damage. So don't be too disappointed if you have a KSOH. :-)
P.S. Use Dreamflange for non-triple immunes. :-)
This is a continuation of the WOW series for wizards. Although I have mentioned most of this stuff at one time or another in the spellcasting series, new research has occured and I have some more to say in the matter. Also the comments and tips which I could remember from the original series have been incorporated into this post.
1. Firebolt- this spell does about half listed damage. It is your first
workhorse spell to be replaced when you have the mana and books in fireball to
make fireball useful. Fire bolt does not work well against fire resistant or
immune creatures, like the burning dead, the Butcher, or Leoric. To increase
your hit percent with firebolt,
line up shots on the horizontal or vertical.
Diagonal shots are tricky- try the following:
m1 Mob and player start at m1,
p1 respectively. Player
retreats to
p2 to line up the vertical shot from p2
to m2. Mob
advances in a line from m1 to m2.
m2
p1
p2
You can retreat along walls to line up mobs for shots. Dooways are a good place to set up for firebolt,
######## Player opens the door at 1 and fires into the room. When
# # mobs stop coming out, player moves to
2 and targets door.
# 4 # This draws out mobs on
the left side of the door. Then player
###/#### moves on to 3 to
draw out the right side. This should clear
3 1 2
the immediate doorway, and permit a move to 4, followed by
an immediate retreat to
1. This last move will draw out the
remaining mobs.
Another good basic tactic is retreating around a corner, and making the mobs turn a corner, IE
m2 Player at
p1 retreats from mob at m1 to position
p1
m1 p2. P2 is the magic position Willpower
mentions
###### in his witch
post where witches will freeze and
p2# not fire. Player then fires
vertically a continuous
# stream of firebolts, into which the
mob walks and dies at m2.
p3# Note that a heavy mob charge may
necessitate going to p3, to
allow more space between you and the mob for a killing zone.
This basic trick can also be done by a retreat inside a door frame,
######### Here player retreats inside the room to position p2
and
# p3 # nails the mob as it comes
through the door. The simple
#p2 m2 # diagonal at p3
with the door as the target is a great
####\#### position for
zig-zag mobs like drakes.
m1 p1
Making the mob turn a corner is a key strategy. For mobs with ranged fire, you avoid their fire and blast them before they can shoot you. For mobs like chargers, you prevent their charge.
Another useful tactic is the cast and dodge,
m Here player at
p1 fires at mob at m. Before the missile
hits,
player moves to p2, perpendicular to the line of
fire.
Player then fires at m, and moves back to p1. This
p1 p2 works well against wizards and
skeletal archers, who sit
at a
fixed position and fire at you.
By dodging after you fire you duck the return fire. A good cast and dodge technique will serve you well against advocates. Every mob has its own different aiming point. When you target a mob (it is outlined in red) you are not necessarily lined up on the proper aiming point. I have had misses against stone cursed mobs with targeting on.
The aiming points on some of the creatures are:
knight, witch: belt, groin area
familiars: the
point on the ground above which they fly
drakes: where the torso first
meets the ground
When you get stone curse, experiment with different aiming points on each new mob you encounter.
2. Holy bolt- this spell works against Diablo, skeletons, zombies, and Leoric. Use the tactics you developed with firebolt with holy bolt. It will not harm another player. Because it works on so few mobs, it can be used to draw out diablo from his chamber without activating his minions. Cue up holy bolt when you open a sarcophagus or barrel- a skeleton may pop out- and holy bolt does full damage to skeletons regardless of their resistances. Holy bolt is a life saver verses Leoric- you can actually lock Leoric up in stun with it. The best way to fight leoric is to retreat until he pauses, then fire off a stream of holy bolts until he advances again. Diablo seems to be paticularily vulnerable to it. The other night I used it against Diablo in a hell difficulty game, and was knocking him back with the damage.
3. Healing/Heal other- until you have mana shield, you will be reliant on
this. The heal spell costs mana proportional to the hit points healed. Do not
rely upon it if a mob is in melee range- the mob can hit you and interrupt the
healing spell. Use a potion instead. Heal other is a nice gesture spell when you
plug your warrior buddy
with a fireball. Heal him. It is also useful when
you are assisting someone else killing diablo. To my knowledge, heal other does
not work on golems.
4. Charged bolt- this spell is a blast for the low level mage. You start with a staff of charged bolt, which is really a great weapon. Charged bolt generates a number of bolts proportional to your casting level. These bolts wander as they travel. This is a great asset as you can send bolts around corners to get at things like a paticularily dense concentration of skeletal archers around Leoric without exposing yourself to return fire. If you are getting swarmed at a low level, head to a corner and cast charged bolt, :
############### A mage, W, casts charged bolt from the corner. Bolts
#W 1
come out on the horizontal (1), the vertical (2), and
#2
3 the diagonal
(3). Nothing can get into melee range
#
without being hit by charged bolt.
As mobs get closer to the wizard, the number of charged bolts they get hit with increases. By the time you are level 20 running nightmare church, or at 30 when you are running hell church, you can teleport to the corner and let off a stream of charged bolts, clearing most everything in the room. It is much harder to hit the sprite limit with charged bolt than it is with chain, and you do not have spurious bolts targeting mobs behind walls. At up to 50 hp a bolt for 6 mana, charged bolt is a very efficient spell.
When you are in the free and clear, line up charged bolt so that the mob you are shooting is between you and an unexplored area. Missed bolts then go off into the darkness and kill all sorts of things. Doing this in narrow halls is very satisfying. Charged bolt is also great against fallen ones, since they often retreat into bolts.
5. Town portal- this spell is a great bail against pk's. Always cast a town portal in the safest most defensible spot when you descend a stairway, and after you have cleared out say a room or other defendable spot away from the sight of the stairs, recast town portal there. This is in case you die near the stairs, you have an alternate method of getting down without being hit as soon as you hit the bottom. Town portal is good for light when you are in stealth mode and trying to find walls. Do not cast town portal near a wall next to a room full of mobs. If multiple players come down the portal, one could show up on the other side of the wall in the middle of the mobs. Also sometimes a portal cast near a wall will put the player inside the wall (a bug).
6. Lightning bolt- bolt length is proportional to the number of books you have in it. At higher casting levels, your longer bolt does more damage. Listed damage is for level 1 bolt length. Higher levels with longer bolts mean you do multiples of listed damage. Mana cost on lightning bolt is cheap, and you do not have a sprite problem with it. Lightning bolt is great for coop games against fire immune creatures. Unlike fireball or blood star, lightning bolt will go right through obstructions like horns in the floor, so you can fire at witches and not be hit by their return fire.
Lightning continues through any mob it hits to damage anything else in its
line of fire. Use the turn the corner trick with lightning- it is possible to
get a great line of
soulburners within one lightning stream,:
w6 Player at p1 retreats from
witches at w and sets
w5
up at p2 with a vertical lightning bolt stream.
w4 The first witch w1 rounds
the corner, squats, and
w3 w fires.
Witch 2, w2 rounds the corner and wants to
w2 blast you, so she squats at
w2 and fires. Witches
w1 p1 pile up in this
manner, and the player fries all
########### of
them with one lightning bolt.
#
#
#
p2#
#
The big mistake with lightning bolt is activating more mobs than you can handle. Frying mobs with lightning takes multiple casts.
7. Flash- flash works against *MAGIC* resistance. A quick check of the mob table shows that magic resistance is the most common resistance. All skeletons are immune to magic. It is for this reason that flash is a second level spell, even though it does much 3rd level spell type listed damage. Golems are immune to flash, and great weapons against wizards who flash in close quarters. Flash is an interesting change up in a duel, as your opponent may be maxed out on fire but not magic, but you better have an awesome ac to survive close quarters using flash.
I do not reccomend relying upon flash as an offensive spell if you have a low ac, as you must be close (too close) for it to work well. You can cast flash and retreat, and mobs will move into the flash zone. Flash of advocates is visible from the other side of a wall, giving you an idea where to aim your stone curse to assist your golem.
8. Telekinisis- this spell acts as if you were at the spot you cast the tk and clicked. So you can pick up books at range, touch altars at range, open doors at range, open chests at range. If you use telekinisis on a mob, it will knock that mob back (no damage). Some of the bettter uses of tk are:
a. Recovering your equiment after you die- you can stand off from a safe range or from behind a wall and pick up your items one by one. Also you can pick up objects from a firewall with tk without having to wait for the flames to die down.
b. Pushing that lingering mob into a firewall- many times you will fill up a room with firewalls and some mob is still standing there firing at you unaffected- tk the mob and it will be in the firewall.
c. Killing the Butcher- stand off at a range which does not activate the butcher, and open his door with tk. Now cast firewalls inside the room entrance, and close the door again with tk. Walk up to the door, open and immediately close it. The butcher will activate, and move into the flames inside the door, burning as it is too stupid to open the door.
d. Touching shrines or getting books from rooms you have trouble reaching. You can get the benefit now, and use that increased capacity to clear the room.
9. Firewall- firewall is a great spell for a warrior or a rogue who does not rely upon other spells for survival. The width of your wall and damage increase with level, and duration of the flames increases with level. Many firewalls can hit the sprite limit and prevent other spells from being cast (this is a warrior pk bug exploitation trick). For wizards with high level firewalls, you can put yourself in danger because your flames take a long while to die down and you are stuck twiddling your thumbs. Good uses for firewall include:
a. The butcher kill- see tk
b. Flaming a room full of goatmen archers
c. Wings- a deathwing in a firewall is hurt, so it goes to ground in the firewall to heal, but continues to burn and dies.
d. Spitter bosses- these guys just sit at a range and spit at an unbelievable
fire rate. If they are preventing from closing with you
by say a lava river,
you can drop a firewall on top of them and retreat, waiting for the flames to do
the trick.
e. Limiting the fronts you face- A warrior flanked by mobs on the north, east, and west can lay down firewalls east and west to protect his flanks, and concentrate on fighting the north quarter.
f. Skeletal, fire vulnerable archers near leoric- burn burn burn
At this
point it is good to explain the 'chessboard affect' with firewalls and
flamewaves.
wbwbw*w a Wizard has cast a firewall on the black diagonal (board
is
bwbw*wb b for black space, w for white space) shown by the
asterisks.
wbw*wbw Any mob can travel through the firewall
unharmed by moving
bw*wbwb from a white square to another
white square. A square bishop
w*wbwbw can not take a black
square bishop.
The way to avoid the chessboard affect is to cast firewall on the vertical or horizontal. There are no gaps then in the firewall. If you have trouble visualizing the grid in a dungeon, drop one gold piece on a different square over and over and the grid pattern in the floor will become apparant.
10. Infravision- this (like identify) only comes on a scroll. Infravision permits you to see mobs beyond your light radius (they show up in red). There are no books. Infravision is the key to making stealth mode work (stealth mode involves getting your light radius down to 1 square. You do not activate mobs outside your light radius.This is done by wearing items of darkness to about -80% radius. You must have items on before entering a level for this to work. Infravision permits you to see and shoot at the mobs before they activate, and lets you walk among them and take them one at a time.) Infravision is also cast on you by murky pools.
11. Fireball- this is your workhorse spell at high levels for fire vulnerables. Fireball does the listed damage at the target square, and 1/2 the listed damage at each square neighboring the target square. This explosion or splash damage is a feature or a flaw in the spell. As a feature, you can take out a pack of snow witches with one fireball. Target the centermost witch, and all her neighbors drop (if your fireball is high enough). You can also target an object next to your target, and have the explosion take it out.
For instance targeting a corner will damage a mob just around the corner. Targeting a horn will damage a mob next to a horn. Targeting a wall will damage an advocate next to a wall. This collatoral damage makes casting fireball at mobs in toe-to-toe melee with your buddy a no-no. The explosion will damage your buddy.
Fireball for the most part should be cast like firebolt, although the
stopping power is such that you do not need to lay down a stream of fireballs-
you can use 1
or 2. The cast and dodge technique becomes more viable with
the high damage of fireball. The max legit level of fireball can be extended
with objects from 15th to 20th level, and do up to 1200hp of damage.
12. Chain lightning- Does 4-2*(2+l) listed damage, where l is the *characters* level not the spell level. Generates one bolt for every mob within your range plus the one you aim. Your range is 2+sl, where sl is *spell* level. Bolt length varies with spell level. At 18th level, I had a bolt long enough to do 3x listed damage. Because you can generate so many bolts with chain, it is your heavy hiting lightning spell.
Chain will target mobs behind walls. Many active bolts exceed the sprite
limit and result in radial gaps in the chain bolt. Anything in a gap in chain
takes no damage. Blizzard limited the number of active sprites to reduce game
lag. To use chain effectively always clear the level from the perimeter. Firing
from corners helps a lot as it concentrates your bolts in a quadrant. The basic
principle of chain is to be aware of where most of the nearest mobs are in your
vicinity, and position yourself such
that the mobs which are immediately
threatening you are between you and that dense grouping,:
###################### You begin at 1, with mobs m threatening you.
#3
If you chain from 1, both m1 and m2 will get
#
only one bolt, and many bolts will go
#
towards the large group of mobs behind the
# m2 ############# wall. Porting to 2 is better,
as m1 will be
#
#4 hit by many
bolts trying to reach the mob
# # lots
of grouping behind the wall. Porting to 3 is
# 2 m1 1# mobs even
better because m1 and m2 will be forced
#
# to
close along the diagonal, and both will
#
# be hit
by many simultaneous bolts
(assumes walls north and west of 3 are clear from mobs). Once 3 is clear, if you are a heavily armored mage, the next place to port is 4 as the areas north and west of you are cleared. This corner porting strategy makes the Sorcerer the king of fast experience gathering, as one can tactically port about a level and rapidly clear it with this corner porting strategy far faster than a warrior can hack through or a rogue can bow through (assumes lightning vulnerables).
Chain can also be used to good effect in a long narrow corridor with no mobs on either side of the wall. All bolts are concentrated along the length of the corridor. This situation takes more time to set up than a corner port. If you have unavoidable breaks in chain, porting close to your target and chaining does help some. It seems the sprites right next to your character are the last to disappear.
13. Phase- phase will port you off in a random direction within about a 5 square range of your previous position. You can phase the same number of times a minute as you can teleport (0.4 sec between phases). Phase however casts sooner- if you are being chewed on, you are more likely of getting a phase spell off before being hit than teleporting. It is for this reason phase is useful when you die next to the stairs. Ready phase, right clicking through the level load. If you are lucky you phase before you die again next to the stairs. Immediately throw up mana shield and port off to another area to draw the mobs away from the stairs.
Phase is also an interesting dueling spell. If you are good you can phase and strike before your opponent can nail you. Because of its speed, phase is better for dueling than teleport.
14. Elemental- although elemental has the same listed damage as fireball, my
experience is that it does not do the same damage as fireball. Elemental creates
a yellow flame like creature which races off in the direction targeted. It will
run through a mob and continue on if its 'damage' has not been used up to
another mob. If it runs
into a wall, it dissipates.
Elementals are good for blind shots, as they target mobs to some extent. They will sometimes do u-turns to go after a creature mid phase. You can use elementals around corners etc. Elemental's mana cost is about twice that of fireball. I thought it would work well against advocates, but it seems I take out advocates faster with a cast and dodge technique and fireball.
15. Mana Shield- mana shield uses your mana as hp. When your mana is gone,
the shield drops. It is possible to cast your mana shield out. Mana shield does
reduce damage taken- at spell levels 15-18 this reduction is 5%, but at 11th or
so, it is only 3%. Mana shield appears as a ball above the targets head. As long
as a mana
shield is up, your hp will not drop.
16. Teleport- Teleport should be on your hot keys ASAP. Use teleport to retreat and position for optimum damage. Use teleport to abandon Diablo in the maze. When adventuring with another, use teleport to position yourself with orthogonal lines of fire with your partner.
17. Bone Spirit- is supposed to do 1/3 the targets hp. If the target has magic resistance, it does not do this. Bone spirit is a slow moving spell. It uses not only hp, but mana to cast. Odds are you can kill it faster with a lower mana cost with either fireball or chain. Because it works against magic resistance, it does have its specialized uses.
18. Blood Star- Like bone spirit, this works against magic resistance. Blood
star always does one half the listed damage. At 18th level my bloodstar does
about 90hp per cast, at a mana cost much, much higher than fireball (Blood star
like bone spirit uses hp and mana to cast). You can cast blood star at a mob
going toe to to
with your buddy without hurting your buddy, but you would
probably be better off using stone curse.
19. Apocalypse- only appears on scrolls and staves. Max charges on staves are 12, 24, 36 for normal, plentiful, and bountiful staves respectively. Nothing is immune to apoc, and apoc damages everything within a radius of the caster. Each time you are hit by apoc, your object durability drops by one. Apoc is what diablo casts on you. Apoc staves are wonderful against triple immune soul burners and advocates, and a great aid in clearing out the mobs chewing on your corpse.
20. Nova like apoc is only on staves or scrolls. I have heard of bountiful nova staves with up to 84 charges. Nova is on many trapped chests in higher game settings. Nova is favored by some in PK battles. I have very little experience with nova.
Well, im still learning lots of dos and donts about running a new mage. Heres some more tips.
I believe that i sould not ever waste my exp points on vit. But since in the beginning , mana shield is way out of ur league. I have found a great soulution though. The book is 16000 g , but the STAVE is possible to attain at the price around 3000 to 6000. This is most likely the best solution when u cant attain a book of mana shield, since its possible at about lv 8-11 to get that much money.
That stave u get in the beginning is ready to throw away after u empty it. But like i said b4, dont . Use ur skill to get more out of it . And when its at 0 sell it , another great thing, the price wont even go down if u do lower the charges. Remember to do this with every staff u find, and u will get lots of free attacks.
Remember again to have a lightning and fire spell in ur spbook
Heres a very advanced 1 ( i think ) for experts only. At lv 8 , go to the cats. Be xteremly cautios. Very carefully pick off a few enemies. Dont go around corners. Its dangeous to b there at this lv, but theres 1 real good part... At that lv, it takes only about 8-12 monsters to raise ur lv.
If u think u might die if u enter a certain area, throw all ur body wares and gold onto a place where u can retrieve them if ur killed. Even naked , the mage is still formidable cause of his powerful ranged attacks.
Getting good armor should be a top priority in the begining. I have leather
armor with an ac of 12, a small magic shield with an ac of 7 and + 6 to magic,
and a skull cap with an ac of 4. I also use a club which gives 8 to
vitality(very helpful since i dont have MS yet).This is what i got when i tried
to get the best armor i could. (
if u respond , tell me what u think of my
armor . I need to know if i could do better)
Another good tip (i think ) since in the beginning ur projectiles r slow , dont try to pick off single attackers from a distance , wait till they get quite close , then fire right b4 their upon u. if anyone wants to flame me 4 saying in the above tip that a mage is still good a fighter with magic if naked , while i say wait till they get close here( where u most likely will get hit a few times ) I'll say that this tip was meant to conserve mana , but if ur gonna go into a risky situation , you must be very fast and somewhat reckless when firing so that you can halt as many creatures as you can b4 they come upon u.
Try to learn c bolt ,heal ,and tp as fast as u can. Ive heard some bash c bolt for various reasons . But in the beginning its one of the best spells .Its cheap in mana right from the start , the book is cheap, and when fired rapidly...it can bowl down lots of enemies. Its great when theres a swarm of annoying sk. archers draining ur life fast.
Another thing about c bolt......some say it bounces off walls , this is not true from my perspective.
Inferno is one really good spell to learn in the beginning . No monster can stand it in the beginning, and it doesnt take up too much mana, even if it drains more than ur used to though. theres probably more , but im in a hurry and my thoughts r jumbled . Sorry for the heavy slang and for the few of my tips that may be rehashed or restated.
I've been building a mage recently (Prof_Lidenbrook). He's now a level 16. I've used some different ideas from this forum and from skilled mages thru chat/email. I'd like to condense the info. I've borrowed, and relate some to my own experiences.
Point distribution
I've seen a few posts on point distribution for early
mages. This is a pretty important issue. Just remember: what's
really important? Of course, the most important attribute by far is magic.
Next is strenght, to wear heavy armor. Now, how important is vit and dex?
Well, for what you get for each point, neither is that great. The
armor bonus you get from dex is pretty piddly, unless you can afford to put
a bunch of points at once. Vitality is even less important; ideally, you
kill stuff before it reaches you, and, by the time hp really matters, you should
already have mana shield. So, following the advice of Aahzmadius, I've
ignored dex and vit altogehter with this mage. I've put one or 2 pts to
str each level, the rest to magic. Once str is maxed, all points will go
to magic. The next attribute to get attention will be dex, finally
vit. So far, this has worked smashingly--str is at 42 or 43, magic at
79. With mana shield, that effectively gives me 220 hp at level 16!!
Getting money early
Money is probably the most important commodity for a
young mage. You need many more potions than either other class. And, books
are expensive!! I read a post (maybe a month old) that suggested using
your first cb staff, recharging it yourself to save $, then selling it when it's
spent. (I think this was Bostic's idea--if it's not, I apologize -- and
for a comment a little further down . . ) I tried this, and it seemed to
work fine, at least for the firts level. However, I had spent my staff by early
on into level 2 of the church. No problem, I figured--nothnig's fire immune yet,
right?? WRONG!! I ran into the scavanger boss-immune to fire!! ("dam
u
Bostic!!") Luckilly, I was able to ditch him behind a wall; almost
immediately, I had found another staff of cb!! <whew> I think
I still like this strategy, in order to maximize your money. Just try to
have some contingency on the off chance of finding a fire-immune early on!
(Aahz feels that "spending" a staff is against his nature, for those of you who want his take)
Mana potions
to save money, use partial mana potions. Remebmer, 2
partial potions will almost always fill your globe fully, and sometimesall it
takes is one. Thsi saves lots of cash!! Dont' buy full mana pots
until money is not an issue (into your norm/hell and nitemare games!).
Enchanted shrines
Not much has been said on this forum on an early mage's
use of enchanted shrines. I suppose most people think it's pretty common-
sense. However, I'd like to point out 2 things:
1)if you can help it, save an enchanted shrine until you have a decent number of spells. This will a) lessen the chance that teh shrine will lower a critical spell, and b) raise more spells.
2) dont' hit a shrine if you have any critical spells at level 1.
I followed #1 but not #2 today; in a cat crawl, I found an enchanted onlevel 5. I felt I could make better use of it later in that game, so I left it. By the time I went back to it, I had the follwig level 1 spells: holy bolt, lightning, mana shield, firewall, and flash. I hesitated, not wanting to reduce a good spell (lightning, ms, fw) to level 0. I really should not have hit it, but the gods were kind--flash was lowered!! <whew-dont' try this at home!>
Aiming spells
Again, this is mainly to maximize money. Always
remember that projectiles of any kind work best on the 8 main compass points
ifthe target is movning. Learn how to tell where the target is in relation
to you, and retreat to be in line with the target. Much better to do this
and only "fire when ready" than to waste 5 fire bolts when
you only needed
1. In the case of goatmen melee mobs, you gotta be careful. use
doorways (as always!); if you're in a big room, try to stand aganist a
wall. I find that goats often walk along the wall toward you, making this
a much easier shot than if you were in the center of the room, giving them the
chance to do that annoying zig-zag thingy ...
As an aside, use spells wisely. If you have 3 goats in one line, dont' use firebolt--use lightning! Lightning takes more mana per bolt, but the lb will hit more than one creature--mroe efficient use of mana.
Partnering
Finally, I suggest that, if you want to build a mage, DO NOT
play with other players until you've reached a respectable level (say, 20?). I
tried playing with a new warrior as a new mage, and it sucked. I was
always holding shots to avoid hitting him; we had to share money, so I couldn't
get enuff pots; and, I leveled up very slowly. (if other, more experienced
mages have had different experiences, please share them!! I wanna know.)
Well, that's all for now. Since most posts on mages had to do with advanced stuff, I thought some "baby steps" were in order-- and who better to hear from than someone who's taking those steps right now??
Hey wizards are hard in the beginning..especially solo...so if you have to play solo try these strategies....my newest mage is level 22 and has not died yet...and is totally legit....
1: To build up gold...play the hardest level you can do easily...even if that
is level 1.
2: If you are using mana too quickly...start a new game
and play the levels above you again.
3: Sell useless books for gold....spend
gold carefully.....get you AC up as soon as possible in the very beginning...and
get your strength up so you can fight until you have enough mana and spells to
start being a real mage....
4: Switch to a shield and one handed weapon as
soon as your original staff if used up and then sell the staff. A shield will
stop a lot of the damage you will suffer in the beginning......and later on when
you find a dreamflange you will already be using a shield and be ready for
it....
5: Used charged bolt and firebolt until ...lightning...chain
Lgt...and fireball become available...I am using firebolt in hell ...I have
still not
found fireball...hehe
6: When you finally get mana shield then
you can start thinking about a good staff..preferrably one that increases your
mana...or you can stick with sword and shield.
7: When low on gold...use
mana sparingly...chop bad guys and save the mana..
8: Sell anything that you
dont need...extra scrolls...heal pots when you get mana shield...and so on....
9: Avoid the Butcher and skeleton king...they are not worth the
hassle...leave the butcher locked up and if the skeleton king is after you just
leave and start a new game....you can always kill them later if you want a
little revenge....hehe
10: Play conservatively....ease around corners...and
retreat if you see a mob coming and pick them off one at a time.....many players
use to charging forward with a warrior have to change styles to play a
wizard...same thing goes for players used to having hacks to protect
them.......Dont get mobbed!!!.....
This last part is too all you wanna be legit mages.....I have 3 current wizards (45...27....22) who are all legit...none of them have all powerful equipment....all you need is common sense...playing experience....and nerve.....
... back to the top Subject: Stick with it......
From: Jeddak level 45
mage...always legit...
Hey wizards are hard in the beginning..especially solo...so if you
have
to play solo try these strategies....my newest mage is level 22
and has not
died yet...and is totally legit....
1: To build up gold...play the hardest level you can do
easily...even if
that is level 1.
2: If you are using mana too quickly...start a new
game and
play the levels above you again.
3: Sell useless books for
gold....spend gold carefully.....get
you AC up as soon as possible in the
very beginning...and get your
strength up so you can fight until you have
enough mana and spells to
start being a real mage....
4: Switch to a
shield and one handed weapon as soon as your
original staff if used up and
then sell the staff. A shield will stop
a lot of the damage you will suffer
in the beginning......and later
on when you find a dreamflange you will
already be using a shield and
be ready for it....
5: Used charged bolt
and firebolt until ...lightning...chain
Lgt...and fireball become
available...I am using firebolt in hell
...I have still not
found
fireball...hehe
6: When you finally get mana shield then you can start
thinking
about a good staff..preferrably one that increases your mana...or
you
can stick with sword and shield.
7: When low on gold...use mana
sparingly...chop bad guys and
save the mana..
8: Sell anything that you
dont need...extra scrolls...heal
pots when you get mana shield...and so
on....
9: Avoid the Butcher and skeleton king...they are worth the
hassle...leave the butcher locked up and if the skeleton king is
after
you just leave and start a new game....you can always kill them
later if you
want a little revenge....hehe
10: Play conservatively....ease around
corners...and retreat
if you see a mob coming and pick them off one at a
time.....many
players use to charging forward with a warrior have to change
styles
to play a wizard...same thing goes for players used to having hacks
to protect them.......Dont get mobbed!!!.....
This last part is too all
you wanna be legit mages.....I have
3 current wizards
(45...27....22) who are all legit...none of them
have all powerful
equipment....all you need is common sense...playing
experience....and
nerve.....
Lately, as I've been focusing on this BNM thing, I've found myself mostly
playing with other BNM's (ie. Sorcerers). I must say, it ain't too hard to
whack a buddy when two, three or four mages get in a panic and let loose their
big guns (fireball, chain, etc...). Well, I've been doing a bit of thinking on
how a group of mages can
be successful together and here is what I came up
with. This post is really a combination of my 'free spirited' mage
approach and Aahz's 'stoner' philosophy.
The first thing to do is to assign roles to the group.
1) The Big Dog: The Big Dog is on point. That means that he is 4-6 paces in front of the rest of the group and is the heavy artillery. His hotkeys should be filled with the most destructive spells he can muster. Here's a suggestion (in order of priority):
F5: Fireball
F6: Chain Lightning
F7: Flash (just kidding...use Apoc
if available, then firewall)
F8: Stone Curse (or mana shield)
As you can see, the Big Dog doesn't seek to escape in anyway. His primary role is to UNLEASH the mages destructive power. With him being on point, he should have clear fields of fire and his buddies should be safe from harm. Note: The 'F8: Stone Curse' is either to slow an enemy or for emergencies. You shouldn't have to use it (see below).
2) Fireman: This guy hotkeys spells designed to take some of the heat off of the Big Dog. His spells are offensive minded, but they are used in more of a support role. Here's a suggestion (in order of priority):
F5: Guardian
F6: Golem
F7: Apoc (if available or firewall or
elemental)
F8: Stone Curse
That last one (firewall) should only be used with caution. The Big Dog
is still the leader of the group and he may move at any given time. He
wouldn't appreciate it too much if you cast that firewall right in front of him
as he starts walking. Elemental should also see a degree of caution.
Only use it for stragglers. It's an area
of effect spell if I'm not
mistaken, so don't send a slew of them into the group surrounding the Big
Dog. Also, Stone Curse is the primary function of the Medic (see below),
so don't use it unless the mobs get out of hand.
3) Medic: The Medic is the most defensive one of the bunch. His responsibility is to protect the Big Dog as best he can and uses defensive minded spells. Here's a suggestion (in order of priority):
F5: Stone Curse
F6: Golem
F7: Apoc (if available or guardian)
F8:
Town Portal
The medic should focus on Stone Curse. That's his primary function.
Golem is also usefull to distract monsters. Guardian can be used as
needed.
Those are the three main roles. If there are only two mages
working together, the Big Dog stays the same,but the other is sort of a
tweener. His main hotkeys should be (in order of priority):
F5: Stone Curse
F6: Guardian
F7: Golem
F8: Teleport
If there are four in the group, then one Big Dog, two Firemen and on Medic should to the trick. One Fireman could roam back and forth to the front lines to help as needed.
The most important thing is to remember your place in the team. The Big Dog is in control and his movements dictate where the party goes. If he advances, the group advances. If he falls back, the group falls back.
Lastly, in order to keep everyone interested, the Big Dog should rotate with
each level. Everyone gets the lead. That way, people like me that
like to 'empty the clip' once in a while will get a crack at it. I
wouldn't mind being a Medic for a while as long as I knew that I was going to
get the lead once in a while.
Whelp, it’s been a while since I made a "real" strat post. Ever since my
little *ahem* tiff with DS, I’ve only posted flames or humor. My feelings
are still the same, strategy discussions are just being regurgitated over and
over. But, I realize that new people are being turned on to Diablo all the
time, so a little re-hash can be
worth the effort. Veteran Wizards
might find this stuff quite obvious, but I’d like to welcome you to the class
along with the fledglings. So here we go, grab a seat anywhere…school is
in…
Welcome to "Wizardry 101: Quick Spells and Teamwork", my name is Woody and
I’ll be your guest speaker today. Before we get started, let me just say
that this stuff, for the most part, isn’t my original work. Sure, sure,
most of it I figured out for myself, but I’m positive that other esteemed
Wizards have posted these guidelines before. We will also have guest
appearances by DarkSniper the Rogue, Mr.Clean the Warrior and my friend
Wormwood, a fellow Beyond Naked
Mage. The aforementioned DarkSniper
can be a bit hard to understand at times, so his part will be demonstrative
only. Mr.Clean will also be here for demonstrative purposes, but I want to
note that students should keep their belongings close to them at all times as
Mr.Clean has a bit of a kleptomania.
Ok, before we get into teamwork, lets discuss ‘Quick Spells,’ or "hotkeys" as
they are commonly known. This stuff is pretty straight forward, so I won’t
dwell on it for long. I have had a great deal of success using the
following format. Fire-Lightning- Magic-Defense (i.e. F5-F6-F7-F8).
All spells in each category should be keyed in order of power (unless your in a
teamwork mode, see below). For the solo mage, this means that fireball
would be keyed over firebolt and chain lightning would be keyed over
lightning. The fire and lightning spells are intuitive. For magic
spells, I like to use the following progression as I learn spells. Holy
Bolt -
Guardian - Stone Curse. Golem is a good spell, but it doesn’t
warrant being keyed. For defensive spells, the following progression has
served me well. Heal - Town Portal - Phase - Mana Shield - Teleport.
If you have standard spell types keyed to a given key, you will be much more
effective in combat at the higher levels. Example, if you run across some
Magma Demons and you watch your fireball fly right through him, instead of
panicking, you just hit "F6" (which is always your lightning key) and
viola! Dead Demon. If your
constantly changing your keys, the
odds are that you’ll fumble through them, wasting mana the whole time and
viola! Dead Wizard. Got it? Ok, lets proceed.
Teamwork is a TOTALLY different approach than the solo game. Once you get to about the 30th circle of power, solo play becomes a blast. I like to teleport into a room and chain and fireball the begeezes out of it until anything that was moving is reduced to little piles of goo. That’s fun! Try that in a team game though and you’ll have a bunch of very crisp (and pissed) companions. I know this sounds like common sense, but I know some twenty something Wizards that are loose cannons in a team game. Loose cannons are reactive as opposed to proactive and generally hinder any successful foray into the underworld. So here are a few rules of thumb.
1. Check your spells at the door. There are certain spells in the
game that are inherently dangerous to those around you. Chain lightning is
a good example. If you just let the chain lightning fly at every sign of
trouble, you WILL hit your companions. Chain Lightning is an
uncontrollable spell. So, hot key regular lightning
instead.
Fireball is another common spell that ruins a teams effectiveness if it’s used
improperly. Fireball does "splash" damage. That means that it
damages not only the target, but all the monsters within an adjacent square of
the monster. See where I’m going with this stuff? No? Ok,
let’s bring in our guests. Mr.Clean and DarkSniper will now help me
illustrate the point. First, lets get into the following positions:
****************
*
m mCm
* m
m mmm
* D
*
* W
**** ****
W =
Woody
D = DarkSniper
C = Mr.Clean
m =
monster
Okee-dokee. We brave adventurers are in the following "situation." Mr.Clean is swarmed by five monsters, DarkSniper has one right next to him and there are two floaters. What should Woody do at this point? Anyone? You, Barngrille, what’s the answer?
"Uhm, Chain?"
*BUZZ* Wrong answer, go sit in the corner. Casting a chain at this point will hit BOTH of your companions (Mr.Clean for sure and DarkSniper as well because he is in the line of fire of one monster). Who else? You, WarLocke, what’s the answer.
"Uhh, Fireball the lower-left monster swarming Mr.Clean?
*BUZZ* Another wrong answer, go sit in the other corner. Fireball, like
I said, does "splash" damage. You will crispify (Wizard speak)
Mr.Clean. You might kill a couple of them, but the damage he takes from
you and the remaining monsters might just do him in. The answer is simple, let
DarkSniper handle the one right by him.
Fireball the two floaters and start
to stone curse the monsters around Mr.Clean. He can then hack his way out
and DarkSniper will help out once he has dispatched his foe. If time
permits, you could also cast lightning on the lower-right monster by
Mr.Clean. This is because you have a clear field of fire.
Which brings us to our next point.
2. Be aware of your fields of fire before you cast a spell. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hit by spells because a Wizard just "let loose." When entering into combat, it is more important to be aware of where your companions are as opposed to where the monsters are. It is IMPERATIVE that you MOVE to a spot where you can have a clear shot at the monsters. Mr.Clean will kindly demonstrate this point.
****************
* mm m
*
mmm m
* Cm
*
* W ---> x
**** ****
Upon entering a room, Mr.Clean charges. In my current spot, I can only cast stone curse to help him. By moving to position "x", I have a clear field of fire and can then cast either lightning or a fireball if I target the upper right monster.
3. The last thing I’d like to talk about is Wizards teaming with other Wizards. First and foremost, don’t bunch up. Wizards are distance attackers in a big, big way. If you maintain a degree of spacing, all of the Wizards should be able to fling fireballs with abandon. As long as you have a clear field of fire that is ;) Another VERY important note is the use of "choke points." Choke points are tight spaces, like doorways, that can be used to herd monsters into a kill zone. One Wizard stands ready and the other "kicks the hive" so to speak. With the proper use of choke points, Wizards can make an effective use of chain lightning in a co-op game. Wormwood and I will now illustrate.
********************
*
m m
* m m m
* mm
*
m x m
*
******* M
********
W1
Ww W2
********************
Ww = Wormwood
Wx =
Woody
Ok, Wormwood stands in position Ww and waits. If a stray monster
charges, he lets him get as close as position "M" and stones him. He then
kills the monster by casting ONLY enough spells to get the job done. If he
casts more spells than necessary, he stands the chance of "awakening" more
monsters. Woody starts at
position W1. He then teleports to
position "x" and then retreats to position W2 by walking for a bit to get the
monsters to give chase, and then teleporting. Once Woody and Wormwood are
safely in position, with the monsters flooding through the door, both have clear
fields of fire and both can cast chain lightning or fireballs
with zeal
until all the monsters are dead. etc. etc. etc.
*Loud bell sound*
Whelp, there you have it. I hope you guys were paying attention. Class dismissed, Barngrille and WarLocke, would the two of you kindly stay after class? I’d have some erasers that need a good cleaning.
Note: Kevin seems to prefer a kind of "battle mage", i.e. using high AC armour instead of the other usual variant, the Naj's Light Plate/Thinking Cap/Dreamflange setup. Both ways are "correct" though. If you want to be relatively save from melee attacks, you should read this:
The Sorceror is by far the hardest character class to start, but he pays himself back. BIG TIME. No other class has the innate ability to take down twenty or more enemies with his/her primary weapon. Be patient with your sorcerors- they take lots of time and lots of money to make them good characters. Whatever you do, don't give in to the urge to dupe spellbooks and elixirs. You will be proud of a well-made, legitimate Sorceror if you spend the time to do it right.
Keep in mind that no matter what weapon you're using, the Sorceror will swing slower and do less damage than either of the other classes. Magic is your most powerful weapon with the Sorcerer- use it!! His firing rate with spells is comparable to a warrior's swing rate with a standard sword, and a rogue's firing rate with a bow.
Starting off: You will start with a lv.2 Firebolt spell, and a Charged Bolt staff. Use the Charged Bolt for "crowd control"- large groups of enemies in large rooms, where you have a greater chance of hitting something with the random firing pattern. Use Firebolt when you have the Mana to do so. You may have to run levels 1 and 2 of the Church more than once in order to get a good start. Unless you have a good friend (preferably Warrior or Rogue) around to help out. Starting two Sorcerors at once is a bad idea- the starting wizard needs all the books he can get his hands on.
Pretty soon, you'll start improving your spells, and learning new ones, and most important, earning enough cash to fund your mana costs. At this point, you can go for a Staff of Brilliance, for the mana, or a magic weapon and shield. Shields of Magic/Mind/Brilliance are extremely rare, don't expect to find one. Rather, go for a Grand or Blessed shield, or Amber, Jade- something for resistance. Make the weapon a Sword of Heavens, Brilliance, Sorcery- something to improve mana, and hopefully Strength. If you opt for the staff, keep your eyes open for a good weapon/shield combo- you'll need the shield's AC later.
This is the biggest battle for the Sorceror- getting enough STR to wear all
the cool armor the Warrior can wear so casually. ANYTHING you find with
+all atts or +str, SAVE IT! Jewelry is obviously preferable, but keep your
eyes out for a Sword of Titans, even if it is 2-6 damage. It's the stats that
matter, not the damage. Your real weapon is spells, remember? Keep
upgrading your armor and spells evenly, until you're up to about 250 AC.
That's enough- believe me. If you get your spells
high enough, even in
Hell/hell nothing will get close enough to do much damage. :)
One last note. Mana Shield is absolutely essential for the self-respecting wizard. Your magic tops out at 250 points, and every point is worth 2 mana. As opposed to 1 hit point per Vitality point, which maxes at 80. Do the math, you'll figure it out fast. Just keep in mind that every spell you cast essentially knocks your hit points down while you're using Mana Shield. Don't expect to survive if you just hammer on the right mouse button the whole time. Play smart, and you'll do well. Here's an incentive for getting Mana Shield, and boosting it up: for every level of the Mana Shield spell, up to 7, the shield cuts damage done to you by 3%. At level 7 and above, your shield will absorb about 1/5 of all damage dealt to you. With that extra protection, the intelligent (and prepared) wizard is by far the best character in the game.
Weapons to look for:
Lv1-10: Staves with better spells, or
swords/clubs/maces/hammers etc with +mag, +str, or +all atts. Keep your
Str limitations in mind. Get a shield to go along with the one-handed
weapon.
Lv10-20: Definately go to weapon/shield by now. Doesn't matter what weapon- stick to magic for killing. Shoot for Sorcery or Heavens for the weapon, and Grand/Blessed etc shield, or resistance shield. Don't bother with +hp or +vit items once you get Mana Shield.
Lv20-30: Start looking for something really nice. +Spell levels isn't too important until later; try for Dreamflange in normal/hell, it gives you 110 mana. Shift STR and resistance to your jewelry. Pick up an Emerald or Obsidian Shield if you can- sometimes it's the only way to get your resistances up over the lip to maximum.
Lv30-40: Dreamflange or ArchAngel's something- the spell levels don't hurt. Also pick up a good damage weapon- Advocates and Soul Burners in Hell/hell are immune to everything but Stone Curse. You'll need Stone, Golem, and a good whacking item. Have two shields, one for AC and one for resistance. You can find Saintly Shields or Awesome Shields with AC up over 50 if you're lucky. The resistance shield should provide no less than +40% all.
Lv40-50: See 30-40
Armor:
Lv1-10: Get some decent leather (12-15 or so) right off, and look
for something with +mag or +ac% later.
Lv10-20: Start hunting for Glorious/Valiant/Blessed Mail and/or Plate, if you can use it. AC is more important than mana bonuses at this point.
Lv20-30: Hopefully you've found enough +str items to get up to at least 65. Store up some cash and go game shopping for Blessed, Saintly, or Awesome Plate (within your STR limits). Upgrade your plate to Full Plate as your STR items improve.
Lv30-40: By now you can wear anything anyone else can. Grab some Awesome Full Plate, doesn't matter what the suffix is. Upgrade to Godly if Wirt is really really nice and offers it to you. Be sure to crunch the numbers first, to ensure that it's better than what you've got...
Lv40-50: See 30-40
Helm:
Lv1-10: You'll want something with 6-10 AC on your head by the time
you hit the Catacombs. Keep the STR requirements in mind. Look for
resistance, strength, or magic bonuses.
Lv10-20: It's very helpful around this point to snag yourself a Helm of Giants. Go for +str over AC, and AC over anything else.
Lv20-30: Saintly or Jade Great Helm of Giants. 'Nuff said. :)
Lv30-40: Hopefully by this time you've got some Jade Rings of Giants or whatever backing your resist and STR. Go for Saintly or Awesome Helms. Giants and Titans suffixes don't hurt.
Lv40-50: Royal Circlet is nice- if you can find one.. :) Your plate and shield should handle most of your AC by now, you could go with a boosted-up Thinking Cap if you want. (Use Hidden Shrines to kick the durability up.)
Rings/Amulets:
Lv1-10: Whatever you find...
Lv10-20: Can't harp on it enough: +str, +mag, +resist. If you don't need those stats right now, save the items for later- you WILL need them!
Lv20-30: Jade Rings of Titans will fulfill your every desire at this point. Don't expect to run across Obsidian Zodiacs until at least Exp. level 40- take what you can get until then. The mage's resist has to be higher than the other classes' for deeper levels, since you have fewer hit points to play with, and when you get Mana Shield, your magic comes out of your lifeline. Hit max (75%) in magic resist ASAP, and get the others to at least 50 or 60%.
Lv30-40: Your rings and amulets alone should provide max all resistance and most of the STR required for your armor. If you have extra slots, go for Wizardry suffixes, and Dragon's or Drake's prefixes, for the extra mana. Mana is not only your weapon, but your life... :)
Lv40-50: You now have the pick of the best- use them. You will need max resist before you even THINK about heading into Hell/hell.
Spells! :) (Most useful spells marked with *)
Lv1-10: Firebolt (*),
Holy Bolt, Healing, Ch. Bolt
Lv10-20: Firewall(*), Stone Curse, Mana Shield(*), Lightning(*)
Lv20-30: Fireball(*), Chain Lightning(*), Golem, Teleport, and everything else
Lv30-40: You can read any book- DO SO!
Lv40-50: Get lv15 in everything, if you can...
Stats for level ups:
Lv1-10: Put the first few levels into MAG to get
your mana up, then work evenly on VIT and STR for a bit. You need the hp's
for now, build up some life.
Lv10-20: Distribute your points evenly. Get your STR to 35 and your DEX up to 30, then focus on MAG.
Lv20-30: Max your STR early- it's only 45, and you will need it soon. Stop working on VIT when you get Mana Shield. Play your points out to MAG and DEX, more to MAG.
Lv30-40: Get your MAG to the point where you can hit 255 adjusted MAG with all your best magic items. Then max out your VIT with levels, and your DEX with elixirs.
Lv40-50: Max your DEX, then work on MAG. Remember, every MAG point is 2
mana points, and you top out at 250...