This guide is based on a number of assumptions. These are:
- You are a Wizard/High Wizard. This isn’t a complete leveling guide – leveling consists of a minor part of the game in many aspects, and my opinion is that there is little strategy to leveling insofar as requiring a class-specific guide; leveling spots change with every update in any case. (You should explore the world and try find a mob you can level off or party with other classes. If you are really out of idea, here is an easy plan that worked for the past but it is extremely boring. As low level mage do mandragora and flora, then geographer. Or if you are greedy you can skip the first two and go straight to geographer. Wizard / High Wizard can still do geographer, if get bored go alternatively to siroma and increased soil. You rarely die but you will get sick of these mobs.)
- The PvM section deals with what skills to use, which you can use in party dungeons (at this update, Abbey, Thors etc) from about level 75-80 - which is just about when you’ll become a Wizard/High Wizard with enough skillpoints to use this guide anyway. Do the ice necklace quest after you rebirth as a level one Novice.
- You use battlemode.
- You can look up skill, item and card effects on your own. This guide doesn’t aim to tell you what they are, just ways to use them.
Some guides describe very specifically what to do in certain situations. This guide includes a general skill/equipment overview, and then covers Ragnarok Online situationally (PvP, PvM, WoE, MvP). You’ll be shown which skills are specifically relevant to that situation, and their uses. A Tips section is included for any skill combinations/things to look out for. This doesn’t include a specific ‘to-do’ for fights against every class in RO, or a walk-through to War of Emperium. This is a guide on what skills you can use and what equipments, and leaves it up to you to use that knowledge and special strategies to your own advantage. Every update things change, and this guide aims to describe in particular how skills and item combinations work, and how they can work for you, rather than rigidly set you in a role so as to keep it in-date as possible. You can reference to this any time, and with this you can figure out what you’re doing right as a Wizard and what some other options are open to you, making it relevant to any player at any skill/equipment level using the Wizard class.
Index
- CH1 - Class Overview
- CH2 - Skills
- CH2a - Magician Skill Overview/Build
- CH2b - Wizard Skill Overview
- CH3 - Equipment Overview
- CH4 - Builds
- CH4a - PvM Applications
- CH4b - MvP Applications
- CH4c - PvP Applications
- CH4d - WoE Applications
- CH5 - Final Considerations
CH1 - Class Overview
The Mage and Wizard may be able to tap into mystical energies, but the immeasurable power of the elements is only fully realized in the spells cast by the High Wizard. Only a fool would dare challenge the awesome might of a High Wizard’s advanced elemental skills head on…
This, unfortunately, is a lie. Pretty much anyone happily will fight you – and with MDEF items as sadly cheap and easy to find as they are, they’ll likely beat you. Alone, anyway. The advantage to playing Wizard/High Wizard lies in your strength in a party – when everyone has to decide to put on that Raydric and hard DEF, they suddenly find themselves very weak toward magic – in addition, your strong Area of Effect damage and magical status effects usually mean that people will always be sacrificing defense in one form, just because you’re there. While you’ll often be glued to the hip of a Priest (and often a Bard), if you like to party up don’t be disappointed. In addition, a Wizard is extremely strong in PvM, again due to their large Area of Effect damage and ability to mass freeze with Storm Gust .You will also find yourself a choice pick to kill Ghost MvPs such as Thanatos and Gloom under Night, as well as support against any MvP with a strong mob/the use of Ice Wall.
- Comparison to Sage
Well, there came a time in the aspiring Mage’s life where the Job NPC asked him to make that very important choice. Anyone playing this class (and has made it to High Wizard) obviously likes being a caster. But why did they become a Wizard instead of a Sage? Sage/Scholar skills revolve around disabling (especially Wizards, so watch out). While they have decent MATK and the use of Double Bolt when they transcend, they can’t compare the MATK output to a Wizard. Wizard was one of the original 6 classes, and its role was and is very straightforward – magic damage. When you transcend, you have more options – Gravity Field and Ganbantein stray from the typical Wizard skill type (and are more oriented toward today’s PvP). However, your party and/or guild will want you for the strong magical output you can provide, in particular AoE damage.
CH2 - Skills
- Full information on Mage skills can be found by clicking here.
- Full information on Wizard Skills can be found by clicking here.
- Full information on High Wizard Skills can be found by clicking here.
These skills will vary a lot depending on your final Wizard Build, so I’m just providing some general comments.
- Whether or not you have any bolts will depend on what your Wizard is built out for. You’ll get Cold Bolt level 5 in order to get Storm Gust, but likely not any more than that. PvP built Wizards will benefit from level 10 Fire Bolt. You will be fine in PvM with either; generally speaking, Wizards can play fine PvM/MvP with the build they use for WoE or PvP.
- Frost Diver is a horrible skill, if your opponent hasn’t got a Marc then they aren’t likely to be a regular PvPer in any case and thus unlikely to problem you. It has no PvM or MvP applications, so that’s the end of that. While there is the ‘traditional’ Frost Diver/Jupitel Thunder combo, you’re asking for 9 skill points in a skill most people have the card to negate – and you can use level 1 Storm Gust, with a quick cast time, 100% freeze on the 3rd hit (with no Marc) and area freeze.
- Safety Wall can be used on an enemy to make Pneuma uncastable. You can also Stone Curse opponents, then Safety Wall them and punch them with a status dagger. Sounds lame, but with Metaling cards there’s an worthwhile chance of divest on melee characters. Obviously, duelling situation only.
- Some people take a couple of points out of Safety Wall to put into Firebolt (or Frost Diver…), as not to cost Wizard skillpoints. This generally applies to the PvP build, and is quite viable.
(A general overview, more situational uses of skills are explained in the Builds section)
Energy Coat
This Mage Quest Skill will reduce all Physical damage toward you (inc. Asura Strike). The more SP you have, the more it reduces.
Earth Spike
This is a must-have for any PvP Wizard. It might seem like a crappy level 5 bolt, but this will pop anyone out of hide or cloaking when it finishes casting, unlike bolts which cancel effect on hide.
Heaven’s Drive
This is highly recommended, at least at level 1 for the usefulness of popping hide, cloak and in addition Chasewalk with AoE damage. Stalkers will annoy you hardcore without it.
Fire Pillar (1 Blue Gemstone)
Firstly, it’s one gem per cast from level 6 onwards. Secondly, it’s ten… no wait, it needs Fire Wall level 1 so make that 16 skillpoints… for a trap that people have to walk into. Luckily in WoE, people WILL have to walk into it – but remember that a Professor will be slamming down that Land Protector before anyone else comes in, and they can only be hit by one at the most. There are damage combos with it in PvP, but it would be for duelling purposes only. Not the strongest of skills.
Sight Trasher
I never figured why this skill had 10 levels – it’s a horrible AoE magic damage, which doesn’t hit everything around you but does an odd pattern of damage, and needs you to cast Sight beforehand. Yuck.
Meteor Storm
This skill is the strongest Fire AoE skill in the game. With a chance to cause the Stun Status and hit randomly for a strong MATK, it’s popular with WoE precasting Wizards – you’ll do more damage to Evil Druid wearers. For PvM and PvP however, it isn’t very strong – the Stun effect and random hits are to your disadvantage against monsters, who will retarget on you once they lose the Stun effect. Likewise in PvP, you can’t rely on this skill to hit, and it has a 7 second delay. Salamander card adds 50% damage to this skill, as well as Red Ferus adding 5% more to every card you put in your weapon. This is the only Wizard AoE that will technically stack on itself, due to the random hits; but you can’t actually take more than one at a time, so in reality it doesn’t. Guilds with extra Wizards often have two+ precasting MS, however.
Jupiter Thunder
A classic. With stronger damage than a normal bolt, knockback and a fast cast time, a lot of Wizards spam this all day in PvP. It also has obvious combo options with the other signature Wizard skill, Storm Gust; freeze first, zap later. A must-have.
Lord of Vermillion
The Wind AoE, this is probably the weakest of the three. The Blind status is nothing special, and it has a rather low damage output. The advantage in this is it’s close-to-stunlock rate of damage- perfect for a WoE precast. While you could use this in PvM, anything weak to Wind will also be weak to Jupiter Thunder. Note that two AoE skills of the same type will not stack onto each other, so only have one Wizard precast this in WoE.
Water Ball
The strongest single-target Magic skill in the game. This does Water element damage at a rapid rate to players (24 max hits at level 5) at a high level of MATK. The drawback? You need to be standing in water, a Sage’s Deluge, or a Ninja’s Water Escape Technique. In addition, this will consume the Area Enchantment around you, meaning that you need it recast for you every two to three Waterballs (note that both the Sage and Ninja skills require catalysts to cast). It’s strong, but hardly worth it – and you are much more useful AoE damaging to your party than spamming Waterball and relying on another class just to slave so you can do it.
Ice Wall
This is a rather unique skill; it creates an actual Water property wall, with HP and a timed life. If you completely block the path between you and a monster, they won’t be able to see you and will act as if you aren’t there. Beware – Ice Walling ontop of an MvP or miniboss then causing any damage to it will cause it to teleport. However, it’s possible to use Icewall and a Sacrificed tank on the other side to attack an MvP and prevent it from going berserk on your entire party. This skill is disabled in WoE, but if you can catch players with it in PvP then they are in trouble. Likewise, you can wall yourself in if they are a melee class. Level 10 is not required.
Frost Nova
A Water version of Sighttrasher which freezes – this is a horrible skill when compared to Storm Gust and has no advantages over it except for a lowered cast time – at level 10. Don’t touch.
Storm Gust
The signature skill of the Wizard, this will be your main skill in all areas of the game. It does high-damage Water element hits, the third guaranteed to freeze a target without Marc/GTB or Undead Property (also Bosses and Minibosses). The non-freeze can actually work in your advantage, particularly in MvPing and fighting Undead monsters in Abbey Sanctuary. In PvP and WoE, this will cause mass havoc and this skill is the reason players are forced to wear Marc Card most of the time. Often followed up with Jupiter Thunder. It is advised to have both level 1 and 10 of this skill hotkeyed, as you can use the lower cast time of 1 for the freeze effect if you are in a tight spot and 10 when your focus is on damage. Note that two AoE skills of the same type will not stack onto each other, so only have one Wizard precast this in WoE.
Quagmire
Decreases the AGI and DEX of monsters by 10% and players by 5% per level. Not noted in the description, but it affects move speed as well. You can only have three cast at a time, and they last for 5sec*skill level. Necessary for a decent precast, and amazing in PvM, where you’ll find you can avoid monsters with ease by casting this onto them for an escape or when you are mobbing with or without a tank. You can use this to level newbies, as it will lower a monster’s HIT and FLEE; level 3 will suffice for PvM. In PvP, expect to stick this onto any harassing Snipers, Clowns, and enemy casters, as it decreases their cast time due to the lower dex. Especially nice to pop into the middle of a Magic Strings/Storm Gust party. Beware, as this skill will affect you as well in a PvP arena (but not in WoE).
Sight Blaster
Buffs you for 2 minutes with the Sight Blaster effect, which will activate when an enemy (monster/player) steps near you, dealing them Fire element Magic damage and knocking them back 3 cells. While it won’t stop Assassins and the like from getting that first hit in before it procs as they go to hit you, it will probably save you from the second – giving you time to put up Safety Wall and chain JT to keep them out of range. This skill has a nifty combo with Storm Gust – disable your opponent with Gust 1, follow up with 10 onto their frozen body and immediately run into them while you have your skill delay to activate Blaster, knock them out of freeze and let them get hit another 3 times by Gust before re-freezing.
Soul Drain
Firstly, it needs SP recovery level 5. This passive increases your max SP by 20% and gives you SP for every enemy you kill with non-AoE magic. Basically, it has PvP-only applications; and is asking for 14 more points for more SP and a bit more regen, when it doesn’t even work on your Area Spells. It could help with leveling at the early stages, but again; who has 14 points to spare when they’re low level? No.
Amplify Magical Power
The only bad thing about this skill is the 10 points (half of the extra 20 you get as a High Wizard). This skill gives you 50% more magic damage on your next attack for 30 seconds, allowing you to pump out your damage to serious levels. It has a fixed cast time, not affected by DEX. Not much more to say; use it whenever you can.
Napalm Vulcan
A stronger Napalm Beat, this skill does AoE damage around your target (damage divided equally between targets) with a chance to Curse. It really only has PvP applications; you can do more damage to Evil Druid wearers, and stack the Curse status with Quagmire for nasty slow. It’s 5 skillpoints for a rather situational skill, but hardcore PvP wizards might consider it.
Ganbantein (1 Yellow Gemstone, 1 Blue Gemstone)
This skill is rather like a small Land Protector – it cancels all ground-targeted skills active on an area. Therefore, you can use it on Storm Gust, but it won’t stick around like LP, just cancelling the area that you casted. Therefore, it really only has PvP/WoE applications. You can use this both offensively and defensively in WoE, to quickly break a Land Protector put down by a Sage until your guild’s Sage can get rid of it, or to likewise remove Safety Walls, Pneumas etc on a Barricade (in WoE:SE) or player. In PvP it can also have this use, and at 1 skillpoint is worth getting. Beware; catalyst requirement of 2 gems, a 20% chance to fail and a 5 second aftercast delay. Use it very situationally!
Gravitation Field (1 Blue Gemstone)
This skill deals non-reducible damage at 1200 per second, while reducing enemy ASPD while inside the field. The drawback? You’re useless for a good 10 seconds, having to stand there while rather mediocre damage takes place. It will still deal it’s 2k in WoE – good for a High Wiz with bad equipment (or a dual-cliented one,as you only check it every 10 seconds). In addition, it would slow any SinX breaking an emp – but you’d only ever be near the emporium if your Guild Leader recalled you there. No uses in PvP or PvM.
CH3 - Equipment Overview
I’m going to go through what I consider the best armor/cards for a Wizard; they won’t be classified into specific builds here, it should be obvious what purpose they each have.
Head Gear, Upper
- Diadem[1] - By far the best headgear for wizard so far, cast time reduction, bonus INT and MATK make this headgear great for precasters and PvM’ers alike.
- Feather Beret, Beret, Poo Poo Hat - -10% from Demihumans. PvP/WoE
- (Refined )Apple of Archer/Ramen Hat – The best DEX bonus you can get. More a PvM card, in PvP/WoE Beret is preferable/DEX not so important.
- Crown [1] / Tiara [1] - Good if you need something to throw your headgear card in, I guess. Valk’s helm is better but obviously harder to get.
- Frigg’s Circlet – 10 mdef…. And two int. PvP/WoE
- Valkyrie Helm [1] – A nice high def, mdef slotted headgear. You have a chance of using this combo, as well.
- Sunglasses [1]
- Anything you like, preferably with DEF.
- Gangster Mask
- Anything you like, for looks.
- Clock Tower Manager Card
- Any INT+2 Card (Best being Isilla)
- Dark Illusion Card
- Marduk Card (highly advisable to bring along green potions rather than waste your slot here)
- Maya Purple Card
- Stalatic Golem Card (PvP uses only, and even then you might just want this for specific duels…)
- Ungoliant Card (see above)
- Silk Robe [1] - An oldie but a goodie. Use for MDEF, especially for WoE situations.
- Diablos Robe [1] - A newer armor, don’t expect to get this easily but it’s strong in PvP.
- Mage Coat [1] - Mdef+5 and Int+1, nice. If your build wants the INT and you have enough to allow for armor switching, grab a few of these.
- Robes of Orleans [1] - Phen in a slotted Robe. Strong for everything but WoE.
- Valkyrie’s Armor [1] - All stats +1, Indestructible, 50% Silence Resist? Ontop of that, the combo is completely viable in a Wizard’s build. Get it if you can.
- Wolong’s Battle Robe [1] - eAthena doesn’t have Battlegrounds yet, but when we do this one will become a favourite. 2 mdef, 150 HP and -2% from Demihumans… with a nice combo to boot.
- Agav Card – Consider this card, as it is the only armor card to boost your MATK and you won’t be worrying too much about DEF as a Wizard.
- Evil Druid Card - Undead Property, Stone Curse/ Freeze Immune, nuff said. +1 INT/DEF is good as well.
- Marc Card - Freeze immune, and 5% Water Resist. A less dangerous choice for WoE, where your Wizard is less likely to be Stone Cursed at the back of the party and ED will get you a lot more Fire and Holy damage.
- Observation Card - Every 18 Base Vit, 1 Dex. Consider it if your Wizard has over 36 VIT – and you’re shooting for 150 DEX.
- Pest Card - Strong for PvP, especially vs Snipers.
- Rybio Card - A Pest Card that Stuns instead of Stone Curses. This will keep your opponent wary, as with a Pest they can switch on ED, but they can’t do too much without an Orc Hero card if they’re low VIT.
Note: There are a heap of different rods and none of them are really that bad in terms of the stats they add. This guide lists the ones you might be aiming for your final equipments.
- Staff of Destruction [1] – This Beezlebub-only drop starts off with 27% extra MATK at its safest refine – and a nice 3 INT. It also reduces your cast time on Amp, which has a set cast so this is the only way to make it faster besides Strings. With a slot to boot, a favourite for Precast.
- Wizardry Staff This two-handed Staff only gives you the regular 15% MATK, but a whopping 6 INT and 2 DEX which makes up for the lack of slots. When combined with Spritual Ring, its MATK is boosted to 21%, and you gain an additional 2 DEX. You also reduce casting time by the refine rate of this rod, which is decent – but then realise you lose out on the 3% MATK and a slot from an Orleans, while gaining 2 INT from the ring. If you haven’t got a Staff of Destruction, use this to precast.
- Dark Thorn Staff – This isn’t added yet, but it’s set to be a drop from Endless Tower. Keep it in mind.
- Lich’s Bone Wand [2] – This is a pretty nice staff, with the added Curse autocast of curse ontop of +1 INT/DEX and a higher than normal MATK. Especially at +9, consider it for PvP. It gives a nice +MATK with 2 slots – it’s really more of a priest card, unless you’ve got it at +9 and two Necromancer Cards.
- Staff of Piercing – INT+4, ignores 15 mdef at its safest refine level. It’s nicer than a lot of people think, especially in PvP/WoE for a cheap precasting rod.
- Survivor’s Rod [1] (INT/DEX) - Pretty sweet combo with Survivor’s Manteau, this rod stands up for itself with a 400 HP bonus as well as 3 int or dex, depending on the version. If you get a nice refine on it, definitely consider it.
- Wolong’s Magic Staff – Legacy doesn’t have battlegrounds yet, but when it does prepare to farm corpses for it. The battle version adds extra damage to demi humans, while the defensive version gives a magic reduction from demi’s with an extra INT point. It also has a chance to stun with MAGIC… yum.
- Combat Knife – Reduces 10% of Demi-Human damage. It’s not as hot on a Wizard, as all the skills that make you useful require MATK – but you could keep it hotkeyed if you PvP a lot.
- Drops Card - Dex +1. Pretty basic, you will want to move on from this but really DEX-based Wizards might like it in a DEX Survivor’s rod.
Necromancer Card - +1 int, 2 MDEF pierce. It has its place in the INT Survivor’s rod, as well as any slotted rod you want to use offensively. Consider it in Staff of Destruction for your precast. - Hill Wind/Laurell Weinder/Red Ferus/Deathword/Pitman Cards All of these cards affect your magical damage in a rod; but anything you can actually slot them in more than one card will likely only have the base 15% MATK, so damage you’re gaining in just one skill is damage you are losing. In addition, you get a 2 MDEF pierce for every Necromancer card you slot, so really consider whether this card is worth it. The Red Ferus will add to your Meteor Storm damage, so while you can consider these cards for cheap precasting rods, there’s better stuff out there.
- Status/Metaling Cards/Swordbreaker/Mailbreaker - Actually pretty cool for duelling purposes, especially if you pair it with Wikebine Tres and Safety wall them in Stone curse while you punch them out/use Magic Crasher. If you get rid of their armor they’re dead… but who duels anymore?
- Valkyrja’s Shield [1] - 20% Fire, Water, Shadow and Undead Property resist, 5 mdef, and 3 defense. This shield kicks ass, and it isn’t that expensive either.
- Memory Book [1] – If you’re just maxing out INT, then this is another 1 you can use. You’re losing a lot of defensiveness, but if you just want to be a glass cannon then consider this.
- Orlean’s Plate [1] - 2 MDEF, 5 DEF and a small chance to reflect Magic Damage (5%), and a cast reduction combo with Orlean’s Gloves. Don’t use it without the gloves, and Valk’s shield gives you a lot more defensiveness.
- Thara Frog Card – 30% Demi-human resist, your basic PvP/WoE shield card.
- Alice Card – Uses for MvP Support… but if you’re taking damage your tank is dead and not much is likely to change.
- Horn Card - -35% damage from Long-Range attacks, especially when attacking in WoE a lot of your damage will come from ranged sources.
- Thanatos Despero Card – Gives 1 int if it’s in a +7 shield, 2 to a +8, 3 to a +9 and 4 to a +10. You can gear switch when they’re disabled in PvP for that magic smackdown. Isn’t really good without a +9/10 shield however…
- Medusa Card – Stone Curse immunity…. A possibility as a PvP shield, but you lose on Hydra. Very situational, don’t get it unless you duel.
- Survivor’s Manteau – This is a top-end garment for your Wizard which will give you 10 VIT, and when paired with Survivor’s Rod +300 HP, 1% more MATK for every over-refine of your rod, as well as 3% Neutral Resist for every refine rate in the Manteau. Pretty damn hot, and is best combo’d with Valkyrie’s Shoes. As neither are very expensive, this will fit well with any build you pick. Unfortunately, it doesn’t allow for a Rod with a stronger MATK (requiring you to switch your rod in PvP).
- Valkyrie’s Manteau – If you need a garment card (Noxious/WoE) or are built for damage and not using Survivor’s, this is your best garment. As a Valk’s armor adds 1 DEX and INT (best armor), and you’ll always be wearing Valk’s shoes, it’s also viable for the combo.
- Wool Scarf [1] – A pretty popular pick, as it gives 4 MDEF as well as a slot and a nice combo with Tidal Shoes. Unfortunately, even for a Wizard at 99/70 with 25 base VIT, Valk’s Shoes give 50 more HP – so even if you raise your VIT a bit further for PvP and lose on INT or DEX, it’ll give the same HP and you lose out on Survivor’s or Valk’s Manteau.
- Commander’s Manteau [1] – Again, Battlegrounds isn’t implemented in Legacy yet but this has some serous PvP/WoE applications.
- Diablos Manteau [1] – Another manteau that isn’t implemented yet, keep a lookout for it.
- Skin of Ventoss [1] - Wait for Satan Morroc dungeon, this garment rocks the house.
- Raydric Card - An oldie, but a goodie. Perfect for PvM, MvP, and PvP. Note that Survivor’s Manteau at +7 surpasses the Neutral resist of this card, not to mention the extra HP you can obtain from it.
- Noxious Card - If you’re stuck wearing something slotted, as a class with Safety Wall the Neutral resist isn’t so important. This will reduce long ranged attacks, including magic, by 10% and Neutral damage by 10%. Great for WoE and PvP.
- Deviling Card - As it’s a miniboss card, it can still get a mention. If you get your hands on one, it’s great for PvP but don’t wear it into that precast! A very situational card, as elemental attacks will rape you hard.
- Salamander Card – 40% more Meteor Storm damage. Essential if you’re precasting with Meteor Storm.
- Valkyrie’s Shoes [1] – Even with 25 base VIT at 99/70, this gives you 50 more HP than the Wool/Tidal combo. In addition, you can wear Survivor’s or Valkyrie set to boost survivability or damage, making this the best footgear hands down for Wizard.
- Tidal Shoes [1] - The ever-popular Wool Scarf combo, this is great especially considering any class can wear it. Unfortunately, it isn’t the best footgear you can use – but consider it if you can’t get your hands on Valk’s Shoes.
- Diablos Boots [1] - A non-implemented, ownage version of Valkyrie’s Shoes. When it comes out, forget about killing Randgris, but until then… also has a nice combo with Diablos Manteau.
- High Quality Sandals [1] - 10 MDEF. Suited for PvP.
- Military Boots [1] - A Battlegrounds item. It’s the next thing eAthena are working on, so cut me some slack for putting it in! A nice combo effect overall, as well as resistance, resistance, resistance.
- Green Ferus Card - 1 VIT, and 10% more HP.
- Zombie Slaughter Card - +1% Magic damage to DemiHumans. If you’re desperate to get that max damage…?
Accessories
- Glove of Orleans [1] – The king of accessories. 2 DEX and 3% MATK, there’s something for every build with this accessory.
- Spiritual Ring [1] – INT/DEX+2. While it has a nice combo with Wizardry Staff, you’re losing out on the 3% MATK from an Orleans.
- Expert Ring [1] – removes after-cast delay; however, with Magic Strings in WoE, your delay will be fine without it for Precasting.
- Glove [1] - +1 Dex. Obviously a cheaper substitute for Orlean’s Glove.
- Earring [1] – Nuff said, +1 int. Orlean’s gives a % MATK which is much better, however.
- Diablos Ring [1] – When the Satan Morroc items begin to come out, you can consider this to complete the combo.
- Zerom Card - +3 DEX, amazing in WoE and PvP alike and gives a total of 5 in an Orlean’s Glove.
- Smokie Card – Level 1 Hiding. So many PvP uses for this card. So little time. It’s a must have for PvP/WoE, but have it ready to switch for an Imp if you’re on offensive build.
- Imp Card – -25% cast time, +25% damage for Fire Bolt. Amazing damage with Amp in PvP.
- Siroma Card – The Cold Bolt equivalent of Imp Card, however most builds will skip a level 10 Cold Bolt so don’t worry too much about it.
- Phen/Bloody Butterfly Card – Well… maybe you have some awesome armor and you don’t want to use Orleans?
- Wikebine Tres Card – No serious application except for duelling, if you manage to Stone Curse/Safety Wall your opponent they will be screwed without Armor.
CH4 - Builds
This section offers sample builds to augment general tips and uses for a Wizard in each situation. Alot of the time you’re just spamming an AoE for your team… but especially versus players, strategy is required to play to your full potential.
CH4a - PvM Applications
Your Wizard will most likely be clearing groups of mobs for your party. Sometimes alone with just a priest, you can definitely be the main damage dealer - Wizards are one of the strongest PvM classes, albeit requiring support.
Skills
- Storm Gust – Your main skill. Remember to keep it hotkeyed at 1 and 10, so you can quickly freeze if you’re suddenly mobbed. You can easily walk through Abbey with this skill and a good priest, and it’s an idea to have them spam Status Recovery on freezable monsters to get extra hits.
- Jupiter Thunder – Obviously, followed up from Storm Gusts or on Water Property monsters. Spam this without amp and put a Quagmire inbetween, and a lot of monsters will never get close before they die.
- Lord of Vermillion – If you were mobbing anything Water element…? In which case, JT and Quag work just as well. I don’t get this on my PvM build, but if you’re with another Wizard two Storm Gusts won’t stack so you can use this as an alternate spell.
- Ice Wall – Especially in non-open areas, you can block off the cells between you and a monster and attack them from around. If it’s a miniboss, it’ll just teleport, so beware. You can also icewall yourself to stop monsters hitting you.
- Quagmire – Great PvM applications; note that it won’t work on Boss/Minibosses, but for anyone else use at all times. Great to cast on your tank if you’re getting mobbed for, or to escape as enemies will slow to a tiny speed when in Quagmire. Use it to decrease Flee/Hit for your party as well.
You can use either the PvP or WoE build for PvM – they both include the main PvM skills a Wizard will be using.
- Base INT: 99
- Base DEX: 99
- Base VIT: 25
CH4b - MvP Applications
While most people will use a Champion or Biochemist to kill MvPs, when it’s Ghost type you need some type of elemental damage. Snipers tend to be favourites, but the High Wizard can deal enough damage to easily kill Gloom Under Knight or Thanatos; in addition, Storm Gust on any MvP will be enough to clear mobs and keep your party safe. Finally, there are now strategies for high-end MvPs which involve the use of Ice Wall; you can view the videos for a lot of these on Youtube.
Skills
- Storm Gust – Great for killing Ghost MvPs, this has the added advantage of keeping their mobs at bay. You can kite (run around while casting) MvPs with a Bragi Bard and quite easily kill them due to the knockback/freeze on mobs and the semi-stunlock you’ll give the MvP. Even if you aren’t the main MvPer, you’ll be able to take care of mobs.
- Ice Wall – First off, if you Ice Wall ontop of any MvP it will just teleport. However, a lot of current strategies to kill high-end MvPs involve Icewalling inbetween your party and the MvP, with a tank on the other side (Lord Knight/Paladin). The MvP won’t teleport as long as it has something to hit, and Snipers/Creators can pick it off while your Devotion’d Knight takes the hits. Alternatively, some people use Shield Reflect and continuous resurrections against Randgris to kill. Observe these videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lcewI6zYMQ Beelzebub, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFRFOUJYaeI Ifrit. Credits to Doddler.
- Safety Wall - Basic support, a lot of MvP parties require a permanent Safety Wall on the tank. A Soul Linked Wizard can cast it for free, additionally.
- Ganbantein - You can use this to cancel any ground-based skills an MvP casts, such as Safety Wall etc. Note the 80% failure rate, consumption of catalysts and skill delay; you usually have something better to be doing.
- Base INT: 99
- Base DEX: 99
- Base VIT: 25
Again, a Wizard’s build generally only changes depending on whether they are PvP or WoE. You don’t even need level 10 Ice Wall to be doing MvPs (although it does help).
CH4c - PvP Applications
Don’t go in without support. The strength of a Wizard in PvP is high magical damage, in order to negate characters who are fully equipped to reduce neutral/physical damage. On the other hand, you also rely on your party to deal that kind of damage so they can’t fully equip to negate magical damage. In addition to your low survivability, you really need a Priest buddy; but in a party, you’ll be doing devastating damage to multiple targets.
Skills
- Sight Well, it’s obvious where you’ll be using this. Just watch out, a lot of SinX’s will try and juke you into using it so you can’t use your Hide accessory.
- Safety Wall - This will stack with Wall of Fog if you have it. There are practically no downsides to using this besides the Gemstone cost, and the fact you can’t be Pneuma’d.
- Cold Bolt - It’s useful as a third elemental bolt. You won’t have this maxed, but that’s fine because the only time you’ll be using this is when they’re doing some fast armor switching/elemental potting, so it’ll cast faster.
- Fire Bolt: While Storm Gust and Jupiter Thunder are definitely your main sources of damage, this gives you another elemental attack which does more damage when the target is under Stone Curse. Add Ifrit, Amp, maybe Fiber Lock from a friendly Scholar, and let the damage begin…
- Stone Curse - An awesome disable. It costs a red gem, but it has many advantages over Frost Diver. Firstly, it drains your opponent’s hit points while they’re under the status effect. It also disables them before the actual status occurs; you can get in another bolt, or prepare Sightblaster and have more time for that level 10 Storm Gust. In addition, protecting against Stone Curse is risky, whereas Frost Diver/Storm Gust are countered simply with Marc. If they use Medusa shield, they lose a Thara. If they use Evil Druid… they are more weak to Fire attacks, and there are other tricks which will be explained later.
- Earth Spike – Use as an alternate elemental bolt, but unlike other bolts, this isn’t cancelled by Hide, and will unhide the target on hit. Use on SinX’s or Snipers with a Smokie accessory.
- Heaven’s Drive – The need to have this skill over LVL 1 is debatable. Like Earth Spike, it pops Hide, and in addition Chasewalk. You can also use this on players you didn’t get to target before they hid but don’t want to get close to/use Sight, like Assassins using Grimtooth.
- Fire Pillar – Generally a weak spell that costs quite a lot of skillpoints, however a lot of Wizards have fun casting this behind a disabled opponent and Jupiter Thundering them into it.
- Water Ball – Until they accidentally add water to the PvP arena… well, this does insane single-target damage. If you know any Ninjas/Sages willing to slave you, then go nuts.
- Ice Wall – Well, you can firstly turtle inside a couple of Walls and cast Storm Gust outside (hoping there are no Snipers, Creators or ANY kind of ranged class). This won’t save you from Asura either. If you’re fast enough, you’ll be able to catch people the same way – making them weak to Storm Gust or any ranged damage your party has. In addition, if your PvP arena has fixed spawn locations, Ice Walling these will cause anyone coming into the arena to land on a random spot instead – limiting the ability of enemy parties to organize and kill you.
- Quagmire – Beware, this will affect you and your party members as well if they step into it. Generally, you’ll only cast this on Snipers and Creators who are far away doing damage, or splat into a party with Magical Strings setup. You can also use it on a player you’ve frozen/Stone Cursed – be sure to place it behind them if you’re going to JT.
- Sight Blaster – This nifty quest skill can really be on at all times – anyone close to you will get knocked back and take a small amount of Fire damage. You can use this with Storm Gust; Gust 10, then run into them to break Frozen status and let them get 3 more hits before they Freeze again.
- Magic Crasher– Mainly suited for dueling purposes. You can use this with status weapons to inflict status effects, including Divest. Don’t rely on it for the damage, but at one skillpoint it isn’t half bad.
- Napalm Vulcan – Situational, but this will deal more damage to ED wearers in addition to causing Curse. There are other places to spend your skillpoints; but it is quite a strong bolt skill for what it does.
- Ganbantein – If you’re willing to carry around the gems for it and pay the after cast delay, Pneuma and Safety Wall, in addition to Wall of Fog, are extremely common in PvP. If you aren’t able to help your party with magic damage, you can take out that High Priest who is spamming Wall on themselves.
- Base INT: 99
- Base DEX: 94
- Base VIT: 37
- Base INT: 94
- Base DEX: 99
- Base VIT: 37
Like I said, I play Wizard inside a party only, and especially in PvP, I’m often wearing the Survivor’s Manteau combo. This leaves you with a very decent 40 VIT with 99 INT and DEX; you should be fine with this + the HP bonuses from the set. I like to set it with less DEX and more VIT for survivability, but it’s up to you. Some people will scream murder for 4 less DEX and 9 more VIT, and a lot of people like to lower their INT. While it makes you more all-rounded, it’s more your equipment that will do this anyway; you can always alter your stats by using different cards and armors. I believe your role is dealing damage, especially in large AoE, so I always go with maxed INT.
[Build]
- Increase SP Recovery 1
- Sense 1
- Fire Bolt 10
- Sight 1
- Cold Bolt 10
- Frost Diver 1
- Ice Wall 9
- Storm Gust 10
- Lightning Bolt 1
- Jupitel Thunder 10
- Stone Curse 10
- Earth Spike 5
- Heavens Drive 5
- Quagmire 5
- Napalm Beat 7
- Soul Strike 5, Safety Wall 10
- Stave Crasher 1
- Mystical Amplification 10
- Napalm Vulcan 5
- Ganbantein 1
Tips
- Yggdrasil Leaf : Ever see those newby 1st classes using Resurrection on Anubis to level? You can use this on anyone in PvP with an Evil Druid on for a chance to Autokill. Expensive, but it’s the best counter for people you can’t Stone Curse, and a lot of Wizards don’t know what to do if your opponent has an ED card. An excellent combo with Pest.
- Bind @refresh with ALT+M. When you freeze with SG, people get scattered everywhere and they’re often (if not always) tile bugged; you can use this command anytime to refresh your screen, even if you’re in the middle of casting (although it will refresh your cast bar and you won’t see it till the spell is over)
- Armor cards that give status effects: Especially for Snipers or anyone spamming a ranged skill on you, this will let you get close without too much danger.
- Use Sight Blaster and run into Storm Gusted opponents to break Freeze and give 3 more hits before they re-freeze.
- You can switch INT items before the final hit. In particular, switch your Hiding Accessory for another Ifrit if you are using Fire Bolt.
- Spam Heaven’s Drive level 1 to uncover any hidden opponents around you. In addition, chain Earth Spike on Assassins and they won’t be able to run because it will continually un-Hide them.
- Quagmire removes most speed-type buffs (AGI UP, Cart Boost, the agi bonus with Berserk). It’s an effective debuff. Stack it with Napalm Vulcan and their speed will go down, down down.
- Stave Crasher is the most effective way to kill Soul Linkers(besides that friendly Whitesmith/Champ/SinX, i have to say in general don’t bother). It works with all status effect cards, including the ones that give divest, and if you can get your hands on it then mail/swordbreakers are good fun as well.
Like a lot of your other builds, your focus is on damage. Offensively, a Wizard is really quite weak in WoE; you’ll be doing a lot of Quagmire and Stone Curse, with a more limited opportunity to AoE and have it count (moreso in SE but a definitely limited role in FE). Defensively, you are a key player; ‘precast’ refers mainly to the AoE skills Wizards cast on key defensive points in the castle to bombard enemies coming through. In the end, you’re still the magical damage dealer of your group. Equipment changes, but your key skills remain quite similar.
Skills
- Stone Curse – Spam this on everyone. If you are invading, then you’ll be doing this quite a lot in FE.
- Safety Wall – Defend against those annoying Asuras. If you can get one down on a place your guildmates will spawn, all the better.
- Heaven’s Drive – As it’s WoE, you’ll need a bit of INT to do the minimum damage with this but it allows you to unhide multiple targets at a time, such as Grimtoothing SinX’s or Chasewalking Stalkers on the way to your Emperium.
- Storm Gust/Meteor Storm/Lord of Vermillion – Your 3 precasting skills. First off, these won’t stack on another cast of the same spell, except for Meteor Storm as a technicality due to its random hits. Therefore, most guilds only have one caster for Gust and LoV, and 2-3 for Meteor Storm. You’ll be using these almost singularly as a defensive Wizard, and Storm Gust more often offensively, especially in SE. You’ll have Magic Strings to cast them, and more often than not Gospel/Devotion ontop of that. If your guild is short on Wizards, you might be casting SG/LoV in turns with each other on higher DEX. You can get a Sage to Deluge/Volcano to increase the damage for your skills, as well as Fiber Locks for the Meteor Storm (plus Salamander Card).
- Quagmire– You’ll always have this on precast, and often one of your Wizards will cast this in turn with their AoE spell. It’s more useful offensively than other skills as it has no cast time and the move/cast reduction is particularly useful when people are packed like they are in WoE.
- Water Ball – Some parts of castles actually have water in them, so this is quite decent offensively in WoE. If they hide, Water Ball will keep casting on their square so you can walk into them with Sight.
- Ganbantein – This skill really shines in WoE, mostly because Land Protector does as well. As soon as you see that enemy Scholar rush into your precast, have your finger on this skill’s button – and wipe out the square of Land Protector everyone will be standing on. You can likewise use this offensively on the Emperium if it’s Safety Walled, and on Barricades in WoE: SE.
- Gravitation Field – Well, 2k damage that doesn’t get reduced sounds a bit better when the damage from other skills gets reduced in WoE by half. You can even dual-client a Wizard to cast this one, as it only needs casting every 9 seconds – and on the barricades in WoE:SE or the Emperium, you see the reduced ASPD actually have a decent effect.
- Base INT: 99
- Base Dex: 94
- Base VIT: 37
- Base INT: 94
- Base Dex: 99
- Base VIT: 37
Optimal Items:
- Offensive: Feather Beret, Unfrozen Silk Robe, Survivor’s Wand (DEX), Survivor’s Manteau, Cranial Valkyrie’s Shield, Green Ferus Valkyrie’s Shoes, 2x Nimble Orleans.
- Defensive: Isilla Valkyrie’s Helm, Unfrozen Valkyrie’s Armor, (Necromancer/Red Ferus) Staff of Destruction, Salamander Valkyrie’s Manteau, Green Ferus (/Ragged Zombie) Valkyrie’s Shoes, 2x Nimble Orlean’s Gloves.
Look, a Wizard can generally get by just fine on the same skill build for everything. However, WoE has a larger focus on getting all the AoE skills, including Gravitational Field. Water Ball has its uses, and Ice Wall is disabled in WoE. If your Wiz is serious about WoE, this is what I’d get:
[Build]
- Increase SP Recovery 5
- Sense 1
- Sight 1
- Cold Bolt 5
- Frost Diver 1
- Ice Wall 1
- Water Ball 5
- Storm Gust 10
- Lightning Bolt 4
- Thunder Storm 1
- Jupitel Thunder 5
- Lord of Vermillion 10
- Stone Curse 10
- Earth Spike 5
- Heavens Drive 5
- Quagmire 5
- Napalm Beat 7
- Soul Strike 5
- Safety Wall 10
- Stave Crasher 1
- Mystical Amplification 10
- Napalm Vulcan 5
- Gravitation Field 5
- Ganbantein 1
Tips
You’ll notice I offered two gear sets; an offensive Wizard has a much higher need for survivability than a defensive one. Stated earlier, the Wool combo doesn’t offer anything better than simple Valkyrie’s Shoes – if you can get your hands on it (not easy, but a good goal for someone with a main Wizard character) the Valkyrie set is ideal for precasting, as the shoes and armor are both focus items and a slotted headgear with MDEF and +1 to all stats can’t be beaten. Whether or not you keep a two-handed staff is up to you, but with the addition of the battlegrounds staff which gives a Stun effect, you can easily consider that as a replacement.
In addition, you really don’t need such a high DEX. Your guild wants you for damage; and I’ll say it again, AoE spells don’t stack onto themselves. Considering you should be permanently under Magic Strings when precasting, it’s no hard challenge to cast Storm Gust ontop of itself with even 95 base DEX before the previous one does its last hit.
- In WoE:SE, it’s a good idea to get Devotion from a Paladin. You’re much more susceptible to random attacks, because it’s just one map. This isn’t so easy in FE, where going through portals will break the link.
- Note where the spots with water are, because Water Ball can take almost any class out in WoE. You can cast another one before the first is even finished hitting, making for huge damage.
- Always stick with a Clown or Bard. Reconsider your guild if they don’t provide you Clowns to give you Strings during WoE (you can dual-client when defending, but for offense you need an actual player).
Sadly, the reason you got recruited is precast. Wizards tend to be the most talkative on Ventrilo, because unfortunately if things are going as planned you’re little more than a bot. Guild Leaders appreciate dedicated Wizards, however, and with decent equipment there’s much less competition to get into a top guild.
- Use INT/DEX foods. The +7 ones are relatively easy to make, and they can completely skyrocket your damage, especially when it comes to precast. In addition, Box of Drowsiness adds +20 MATK (extremely easy to farm up) and a Box of Gloom will add you 2 DEX.
CH5 - Final Considerations
You can basically live on your Wizard at level 99 without any resets, 99 base DEX/INT and the standard 25 VIT. If you definitely tend to fight players alot more than monsters, consider 4 less DEX and 9 more VIT. You can drop your INT if you like, but it’s really what people recruit you for - end-game leveling will have you under Magic Strings anyway. It’s how you switch around your equipments to affect your end-result total stats. While there are some items that are hard to get for Wizards, comparatively they’re extremely easy to gear up.
The equipment and stat builds listed are for (my opinion of) optimal performance in a certain role. Feel free to make your own hybrid build, or go your own way. I didn’t include any MvP cards, because they affect a build so much it’s pointless posting separate builds to compare them. The ones that really stand out for Wizard are the Bishop Hibram, Kiel D-01 and Orc Hero cards.
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