Had to limit this a bit as these forums don't have the access of the ones I keep these guides at.
Just thought I'd post one here, see what people think.
As can be seen, wizards benefit from a boost to ALL direct damage magics. Sadly this is somewhat of a double-edged sword in regards to the bonus, and quite easily a blunt one at that. While it may seem an impressive bonus, the requirements for equipping the multitude of gems you'd need to take advantage of this would hamper the speed of growth of your char unless you have a much higher level alt or friend to give you trophies, or can throw money at the game to sell off TCs to players. That being said, the damage boost is quite a nice amount, as at higher ranks, direct damage gems can deal a large amount of damage.
Red Magic provides the most effective damage from mana/energy exchange. Predominently, red gems use energy, which can cause problems, as your amount of energy is measured by your PSt, which is part of your Magic stat group, which also includes Intelligence and Concentration, two skills required to inflict maximum damage and ensure your gems hit respectively, ergo being quite important. Black Magic has many powerful gems which draw upon your energy, so a blend of the two would be suitable for a caster, however Warlock's have a boost to all Death Magic (which is the Red and Black Magics) which surpasses the Wizard's boost. Therefore to properly take advantage of the Wizard class bonus, we must find direct damage gems from another magic line which provides an additional benefit worth the digression from the highest max damage gems, using our class bonus to compensate for this.
Blue Magic has direct damage gems which inflict a constant amount of damage while Grey Magic has highest costs for less damage but boasts a higher minimum damage. As wielding a stave has many skills which boost your mana and energy stores and reduce the cost of the magics cast, Psych Magic does indeed seem an area of interest, as it houses many support gems and those which can afflict the enemy in various derogatory ways.
Life Magic (White and Green Magics) is the only line of gems in the game that provides heals and they also have many powerful direct damage spells as well, albeit somewhat more expensive to cast than the others, although as previously stated, staff-users have ways to lower their expenditure of energy and mana.
Equipment can be divided up into 4 areas:
While there are possible benefits to other weapons, the weapon of choice for casters will always be the staff. While the actual staff itself is irrelevant at the lower levels, as any melee damage dealt will be negligible, the simple act of having one equipped will provide a major boost to the skills you should be levelling.
Armor as always should be highest AC possible, offset against those that provide beneficial stats to your character. As there will be no shield, focusing on your Protection skills (aside from those requiring a shield) is necessary for ensuring your survivability.
As whips won't be a part of your build, pets have little effect upon you, though as the saying goes, every little helps, so depending upon your build you may choose to opt for healing or damage pets, although healing would be advised as you should be maximising your damage through your gems. For preference you should take a healing pet which also provides a chance to prevent any detrimental gem.
The main focus of your equipment should be your gems, so prepare to get involved here. To focus upon more than 3 colors of gem will detract from your overall build, and as said previously, to focus on Death Magic would be moot as other classes have greater benefits for that area. Enchanters have a boost to Grey Magic skills, and many classes have a boost to Life Magic lines. Blue Magic is the only area which does not have a class bonus, but sadly the damage increments aren't that substantial when the Wizard bonus is taken into account. Angels are the sole class which gain a White Magic increase and Druids boost claim a similar 5%(15% with skills) increase to Green Magic. Wizards can attempt to bridge the direct damage facet of Life Magic by fielding both lines of colors found within. This should be supplemented by a few gems from other disciplines of magic, such as the Balance line found in Blue Magic and of course Flare Up in Red Magic. The following gemlines alongside the skills given below would be beneficial towards a Wizard built with PvP in mind and should allow both solo and group support.
Life Magic
Gradual Repair | Heavenspark
Gaia's Blessing | Invigorate | Invigorating Cantrip | Tendrils | Wisp Lift
Death Magic
Do Unto | Flare Up
Psych Magic
Balance | Damaging Cantrip | Daze | Stun | Mesmerize | Discourage Jeweling| Incidental Redirection | Korrsix | Mana Cantrip | Manaburst | Transcenence
Defamations | Defoliate | Malign | Psych Resistance Aura
Regardless of which gems you choose to use, there are certain core skills all staff users should raise which are shown below, alongside those which all characters should raise as seen
in this guide and those required to insert your gems into your gem pouches. These should all have at least one level placed in them as soon as is possible, and be aimed to be kept in line with at least your player level if not just above it.
Life Magic
Mental Conservation | Healing | Repel | Shared Bliss | Eternity | Palisade
Death Magic
Staves | Sleight Of Hand | Destruction | Inferno | Necromancy | Longevity | Everence | Burning Soul
Psych Magic
Wizardry | Divination | Gem Handling | Replay | Perseverance | Mana Vault
For stats, you should aim for an end build consisting of 100 Melee | 100 Magic | 80 Defense | 0 Recovery and have a third pouch filled with restorative gems if you find those in your main pouch are insufficient.
The stat distribution for Melee should favour a 1-0-2 split .
Magic should have a 2-0-1/2-1-0 raising structure, with Defense raising 0-1-2 as a standard. These are obviously just guidelines to go by and should be altered as necessitated by your battle experience and equipment.
CoN: Wizard Building
