Guide:Wizard

Wizard(Hotfix #54)

Playing wizard can be difficult, but it can also be highly rewarding. This guide will serve as a general overview to the tactics that a wizard has in their magical toolbox. It's intended for beginner/intermediate players, so some experienced players may not gain much from this.

When playing wizard the rule of the game is simple: no spells, you're dead. So you always want to be taking stock of how many spells you have left, and trying to only use them when the time is right. If you're in a party don't be afraid to ask to Rest before engaging an enemy team. That extra spell or two could win the fight. At the same time when resting you'll want to be extra cautious, as resting is the most venerable state in the game. Made even more so if using the Meditation skill, which muffles audio making it even easier for someone to get the drop on you.

Generally speaking there are 3 categories of wizards. Melee wizards, DPS casters, and support wizards. Each is good in its own way, so pick one that will fit your personal play style best. You can always change your build later, but keep your style in mind when picking the rest of your abilities

Perks and Skills

DPS caster

Sage gives a 10% bonus to knowledge. This is really good, especially at lower levels. Knowledge gives spell memory, casting speed, and spell recharge bonus so it is nice to have.

Fire Mastery is good for dealing with enemy healing. It will cut healing by 50%. It also adds damage to your fire based spells (including Zap)

Spell Overload will make 5 spell wizard viable at higher skill levels. When starting out, I don't think its good enough to merit until you can run at least 4 spells with it.

Ice Mastery is going to solve a lot of problems for a ranged wizard. When coupled with Ice bolt you're able to better manage melee w key enjoyers.

Arcane Mastery is the last perk I'd recommend for wizard. That isn't to say its bad, I use it on almost any wizard build i have. It will allow you to insta-cast Invisibility as well as helping with Magic Missiles giving you a bit wider of a safety net.

Intense Focus will let you insta-cast one spell. This can be huge if played right. insta-Fireball or insta-Chain Lightning can be devastating to a team, but at the cost of Meditation or another Spell Memory you'll wanna make sure you really like this ability if you keep it

Meditation is really good for new wizards, giving you your spells back at twice the normal sitting rate. It will keep you up and the game fun, but when you feel ready you should drop it.

Melee Wizard

Arcane Shield is a great pick for any melee wizard. It immediately applies a shield for 20hp of any damage type. This is really good especially with lower gear.

Reactive Shield another solid option for melee wizards, when you take damage you will gain a shield for 15hp of any damage type. This could potentially stack with your other shield for 35hp.

Ice Shield provides 20 armor rating and slows attackers when they hit you by 20% move speed and attack speed. Guaranteeing that you can escape or slow them down while you're engaging

Staff Mastery is really good if you are going to use the magic staff. Because it scales at 100% a white staff with ignite would essentially have an extra 11 magical weapon damage on it, 2-3 taping most classes.

Support Wizard

There aren't any support wizard skills or perks in the game currently. Pick any that sound good to you. A good first perk is always Sage.
Though Haste, Invisibility and Ignite spells can buff your teammates, this was often included in the meta "Buff Ball" but these spells have recived numerous nerfs due to the prevelence of this strategy.