Avowedlets you learn a whole host ofspellsto make yourself into a powerful Wizard, and as well as grabbing wands and grimoires, you can learn these spells from your skill tree. However, since you aren’t locked into a single class, you can also look to what the Figther ad Ranger has to offer to become an even stronger Wizard.
While the majority of your skill points will be spent on Wizard warfare, there are a host of other skills that are important for making your character well rounded, or especially useful depending on your secondary loadout. With skill points pretty hard to come by across the game, you’ll want to spend them wisely here.
1
Take first
Medium/High if building to Secrets of Rime
Only if building to Heart of the Storm
Medium/High if building to Spirit of Decay
5
Medium if using Wand
High if using Wand
High (needed to unlock spells)
Low/High if building to Scion of Flame
Low/High if building to Heart of the Storm
Only if building to Secrets of Rime
Medium if using Grimoire/Skip
10
Only if building to Scion of Flame
15
Heart of the Storm
20
Medium
As you might expect, building a Wizard is themost complex build in the game, but it’snot that hard to use. The difficulty comes in planning ahead - you want to have a broad range of spells, but also need to find or buy grimoires, and consider if you’re using a wand, while alsothinking about your magical speciality.It’s this decision that will drive the sort of Wizard you create.
The first choice is easy, at least. Neither the Fighter nor Ranger first skill is useful, so the first skill you bank should beMinor Missiles. After thisArmored Essenceis also essential if using lighter armor (which is better for a wizard in terms of stamina and essence), butyou may wish to wear heavier armour for the protection. This would help with your secondary loadout and give you a health boost, would be be atypical for a Wizard.
After that, it’s all about building spells up. At level 15, you will choose eitherSecrets of Rime, Scion of Flame, Heart of the Storm, or Spirit of Decay. These four skills boost yourIce, Fire, Shock, and Poison damagerespectively, and can each be upgraded three times. You can unlock multiple (even all four), but to do that, it means less points to spend on skills that make these boosts count. Therefore, we suggestpicking one or two specialisations and building spells around that.
Ice and Fire spells are more common, making them the sensible choice.
With this in mind, you should target spells that suit your eventual ambitions. However, there are some other things to keep in mind.Fan of Flamesis the best early spell because of its wide coverage and damage over time, whileCorrosive Siphonis a healing spell that will come in handy. You will alsoneed to take and upgrade Grimoire Masteryto unlock later spells, as well as finding Grimoires containing said spells. However, you mayprefer to use a wand.Wands cast generic magic attacks butdo not drain essence, so are a handy tool. You will needWand Masteryif using a wand, and should look toBlast not Bouncefor your power attack.
Harvest Essenceis a key skill as you’ll naturally be using your essence, butBlood Magic is riskyas it comes at a cost of your health, which you may already have less of as a Wizard. As for the general magic spells,avoid Blackbow as you will already have ranged options, butSpirit Lanceis well worth it.Missile Salvo is a good upgrade on Minor Missiles, but that will depend on how much you use it. There are also some spells, likeBlizzard or Meteor Shower, that are worth grabbing even without specialisation because of their unique battlefield control.
Medium with medium or heavy armor/Skip
High/Skip if not using two-handed weapons
Skip
Fightersand Wizards are not necessarily the mismatch they seem to be. Fighter has a couple of must-have skills for your all-round character building, but it’s a solid strategy to mainly play as a Wizard but make yoursecondary loadout a big, two-handed weapon. If you do, thenFighter skills will be useful. If you’re doubling up on magic with Grimpoire and Wand, orleaning towards a Ranger weaponlike guns, bows, shortswords, daggers, or spears, thenyou just want the basics.
Those basics areConstant Recovery and Toughness, both at Level 1. These help you regain health and boost your overall health, making them crucial in the field. If you’renot using a two-handed weapon, the only other skills worth getting are Devastating Criticals and Built to Destroy. The first boosts your crits (which is especially handy for wand Wizards), and the latter gives you a small health boost for breaking boxes and the like.
However, if your secondary loadout is a two-handed weapon, the you will wantBrawnto make it more effective.Bleeding Cuts, which applies bleed to attacks done with greataxes and greatswords, is alos crucial to make this side of your combat as effective as possible. This should beswitched to Stunning Blowsif you use a hammer or mace, but these are far rarer so Bleeding Cuts is generally preferable.Retribution, which deals back a percentage of damage you take, is worth it once your Wizard skills are locked down, as isClear Out,which makes you a sword tornado. However,neither are crucial.
Medium if using shield/Skip
High if using bows or guns/Skip
Low
Rangersand Wizards have a happier marriage, probably because it suits Wizards to stay on the fringes of action or move fast when caught in trouble, rather than standing their ground like Fighters. Once more, there aresome skills you should pick up regardless, and some which only apply if you areusing Ranger weapons for your secondary loadout.
Those two skills you want regardless areSurvivalist and Evasive at Level 1. Scavenger boosts the healing power of food, so is worth one point, and Evasive lesses the stamina drain from dodging. Stamina is needed for wands as well as whatever your Ranger or Fighter-coded loadout might be, so it’s an important skill.
Beyond that, it comes down to your secondary loadout. If itfeatures a shield, consider Parry. If itis a bow or a gun, grab Steady Aim. Ondaggers, sword, or spears? Piercing Thrusts. Usingone-handed weapons? Finesse. Really love thatbow or gun? Marksmanship.
Since daggers, swords, and spears are one-handed weapons (two-handed greatswords don’t count for this), you will get use out of Piercing Thrusts and Finesse. We suggest Finesse is the better option if you don’t want to put too many points into improving your secondary loadout.
They’re not all built around this idea, however.Bear Ally at Level 15 summons a bearin battle, so is a useful high damage option you may throw into skirmishes when you need something to cause chaos. Wand users might also wantCritical Strike,which pairs well withDevastating Criticalsfrom the Fighter skills. Those who enjoyupgrading and crafting will want Scavenger too, but it’s not a must-have skill when Wizards can upgrade spells with skill points instead of constructing tools.
Both of the Level 20 skills offer either a boost to melee or ranged. However, at Level 20, you will want to build up your Wizard build, soneither are a priority.
