Wizard Question - Damage Type Focus

[Morty]

I'm putting together a 4th level wizard for a 4e game, having never really played the system. So far so good, but there's something I'm not sure about. Should I focus on one damage type for my powers and take feats and items that reinforce it? I seem to have a mix of force, thunder and psychic effects, with one lightning at-will. Then I took the Guardian Staff proficiency, which works with force damage. So now I'm not sure if I should take more force-based spells or drop the staff, since only two my powers work with it.

[Gavran]

When optimizing damage, it is a very good idea to pick a single damage type, but that almost always means picking an magic implement/weapon/PP/feat/class feature that lets you add it to all of your attacks, not picking only powers that do that damage. This is especially true for a Wizard, because there are so many amazing Wizard powers you should be getting instead.

Secondly, as a Wizard optimizing your damage isn't really your goal anyway. While certain Wizard builds can definitely put out good damage, Wizards excel at battlefield control - arguably more so than any other class.

Third, when optimizing for damage or for control, accuracy is key. An Accurate Staff is strictly better than +1 to force damage even if you have exclusively force powers.

[GPuzzle]

Alright, you should've taken the Accurate Staff.

Second, generally the type of the damage won't matter for a Wizard (unless you are a Blaster, in that case, I think that Fire+Thunder is your best bet). What will matter for them is how hard is the debuff. Maze of Mirrors, for example. Or Sleep. Visions of Avarice, too. Ultimately, the Wizard's job is to make the DM hate himself, and he does so by debuffing the enemies to the point that your team can simply come in and mop the floor with them.

Honestly, I guess the best one is Thunder, because it with Enlarge Spell can net you +2 on all your burst and blasts at Paragon, but I'm not exactly sure how to get it on many powers without sacrificing too much.

[Morty]

For the record, this character won't reach Paragon tier. It'll be a short game, and while I have no idea how quickly 4e characters progress, reaching level 11 is not on the cards.

As far as specific advice goes, it makes sense. I'll pick the accurate staff instead and pick whatever spells I feel like taking. I'm using the character builder, meaning that I have a lot of them to choose from.

[GPuzzle]

May I recommend that you look at the Wizard Guide (http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3292096)?

It's very helpful.

[Morty]

Thanks, I'll check it out. The number of options wizards get with all available sources is a little overwhelming. Reminds me of why I didn't like playing casters in 3e. I think I'd rather focus on control than blasting, so it looks like psychic-related spells are my best bet.

[Tegu8788]

You have a lot to choose from right now, but once you play, it's just those few, so it's a lot more straight forward than 3e casters. And Wizards have gotten new spells in just about every book published, so they do have a decent amount of bloat. Damage is a secondary thing for most Wizards. Doing different kinds can be useful, if you run into something and it's immune to fire, an all Wizard fire may be in trouble.

[Morty]

Right now, I'm considering three options - force & thunder-based blaster, illusion-based controller or a Nethermancer mage.

[masteraleph]

Right now, I'm considering three options - force & thunder-based blaster, illusion-based controller or a Nethermancer mage.

Please don't do the first- if you want to deal damage, be a Sorcerer. Mages just fall way behind on that.

Illusion based controller is the strongest of the 3 options. Nethermancy is ok (it's actually not a bad option as a secondary Mage specialization), but illusionist is the way to go with Wizards as far as those options go (the other option is an Enchanter).

[Morty]

I realize that dealing damage isn't a wizard's job, but pushing and sliding enemies seems like a good idea.

[GPuzzle]

More than that. It's dazing, stunning, dominating , creating zones, summoning and conjuring, and similar stuff.

[Morty]

I ended up going for a regular Arcanist wizard with lots of mind-screw powers. Thanks for the help, folks, and we'll see how it works.

[Held]

Honestly, I guess the best one is Thunder, because it with Enlarge Spell can net you +2 on all your burst and blasts at Paragon, but I'm not exactly sure how to get it on many powers without sacrificing too much.

This is correct, and the way you apply Thunder on your powers is by Multi-Classing Swordmage and picking up the Malec-Keth Janissary Paragon Path; at level 16, you get to add 1d4 extra Thunder damage to all your attacks, and as I recall extra damage with keywords add those specific keywords to the attack. Congratulations, your winged horde is now a 1d6+1d4+enh+item+feat damage spell in an ally friendly burst 3 within 10, that denies OAs, maybe applies a -2 penalty to attack rolls and might even give you CA, all depending on your build.


Please don't do the first- if you want to deal damage, be a Sorcerer. Mages just fall way behind on that.

This is false, at least where heroic tier is concerned. A mage does not fall 'way behind' a sorcerer in terms of damage output. A genasi lightning blaster has +4 from strength with a single feat investment and a 16 buy in strength. Your level 1 arc lightning therefore does 1d6+4(Str)+4(Int) damage, for a respectable 1d6+8. You target two creatures within 20. You can also grab the attendant feat for +1 attack and +2 damage after using your racial, which confers a 1d8 damage benefit to aforementioned arc lightning and all lightning and/or thunder spells. I wouldn't scoff at the mage's ability to dole out damage in heroic, they're quite competent with the right build (and this is certainly not your only option!). (exchange mage for wizard as you please)


I took the Guardian Staff proficiency, which works with force damage.

Two notes on that: the Guardian Staff's bonus to force damage does not apply to magic missile and its encounter-tier cousins, and it's generally considered a good idea to grab an accurate staff of Ruin if you're into damage. Since you've now amended to being a psychic wizard, I'd recommend the crystal orb for its bonus to your slide movement, and its damage boost to your psychic spells.

[Sartharina]

(exchange mage for wizard as you please)Okay :smalltongue:


This is false, at least where heroic tier is concerned. A wizard does not fall 'way behind' a sorcerer in terms of dawizard output. A genasi lightning blaster has +4 from strength with a single feat investment and a 16 buy in strength. Your level 1 arc lightning therefore does 1d6+4(Str)+4(Int) dawizard, for a respectable 1d6+8. You target two creatures within 20. You can also grab the attendant feat for +1 attack and +2 dawizard after using your racial, which confers a 1d8 dawizard benefit to aforementioned arc lightning and all lightning and/or thunder spells. I wouldn't scoff at the wizard's ability to dole out dawizard in heroic, they're quite competent with the right build (and this is certainly not your only option!).Fix'd according to above guidelines!