The Wizard - Mod 24

by Eldoth@bifflinculte - Forsaken Rebels

19.04.23

Also check my awesome Arbiter Cleric guide :

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UZGOcQIMLCh5I4lrH63REK5YVsa3
Kpk1hOyfic21z8k/edit?usp=sharing

Here I try to present the wizard class and its paragons. I’ll discuss the mechanics, powers, feats,
gameplay and strategies. This guide is not about gear, since the wizard uses the same
equipment and artefact as any other damage dealer class.

Last update : Mod 24 wizard fixes

The wizard class got a massive boost and most of the known bugs were fixed with the release of
mod 24. Increased magnitudes, some reduced cooldowns, the wizard has now similar dps with
the other dd classes.
For the arcanist, the gameplay and the builds remain the same. Arcane Empowerment cd
reduction is less huge as before, but it’s less buggy. It is also no longer possible to refill the AP
bar with Pillar of Storm out of combat.
With the return of Directed Flames and an increase of Smolder’s magnitude, the thaumaturge is
no longer the abandoned path. Investing in Smolder is definitely the way to go, renewing the
gameplay which is very fun to play besides being deadly.
Stats
Ability score: put all points in intelligence (more damage and control) and Charisma (forte bonus,
cd reduction). Constitution is also a good option, it will give more HP and higher AP gain. Or
Dexterity for more crit severity.

Offensive Stats:
Power > Combat advantage > Critical strike > Critical severity > Accuracy
Notice that the thaumaturge can easily get a free 20% Critical severity bonus.

Defensive stats:
Defence = Awareness (all bosses deal CA damage) > HP > Critical avoidance
No need to focus on defensive stats, the wizard is not a tank.

For pve defensive stats aren’t relevant for damage dealers, tanks are here for that. Try to
balance defence and awareness (bosses always deal damage with combat advantage).

Utility : Forte

Bonus : Recharge speed (thauma) / AP gain (arcanist)

Combat : Poisoned Thorn (st)

Boons
Tier 1-4: focus on all offensive boons, then movement speed, defence, deflection, crit
avoidance, awareness, HP

Tier 5: Forte bonus, cd reduction

Master boon: Blood Lust 3/3

The Thaumaturge
 “It’s a machine gun”

The thaumaturge specialisation is the evolution of the former master of flame oppressor build. It
focuses on cold and fire magic. He can also cast a selection of single target arcane spells but
has no access to lightning spells.

Class mechanic : Smolder has now a magnitude of 150 with a 3 sec dot with 4 ticks. If the
target is or gets chilled (by any wizard cold power), it becomes Rimefire Smolder which is
refreshed by chill (same magnitude and dot). With finally a more than decent magnitude,
Smolder-based builds are definitely the way to go.

Pyromaniac build, PVE

This build is based on the Directed Flames feat, which permits you to deal Smolder damage on
foes anytime it’s triggered. Moreover Glowing Flames will add aoe damage to it, meaning
exponential dps with the increase of targets.
This build allows very fast AP generation in PVE.
Another good point is the free 20% bonus on your critical severity rating (10% from Burning
Criticals feat, another 10% from Critical Conflagration class feature).
This build is also very versatile, it excels in boss fights by only swapping encounters (see next
section).

Feats :
- Relative Haste(cd reduction) or Smoldering Recovery (faster AP gain). The more
enemies you fight, the more effective these feats are. +30-55% AG gain, depending how
much enemies you fight. It seems huge but the Combustive Action class feature does
much better, regenerating AP 3-12 times faster.
- Glowing Flames : Smolder becomes aoe with the same radius as Fireball (15’), base
magnitude =150x0,3=45. Godlike for PVE, but also useful in boss fights if surrounded by
adds.
- Shatter strike : the only not fire-related feat (the alternative is awful). Frozen foes get
mag 300 damage. Control powers (except at-wills) deal mag 200 extra damage against
cc immune foes.
 - Critical Burn brings a nice 10% bonus to Critical Severity and will boost your Smolder
critical hits by 25%
- Directed Flames : when you add Smolder with a fire spell, you instantly deal a Smolder
hit with 150 magnitude, 1 sec cd.

Directed Flames is a very good feat, however it is bugged : cold powers don’t proc rimefire
Smolder consistently, meaning that Critical Conflagration is mandatory to add Smolder
efficiently.

Class Features :
4 options for 2 slots only
- Critical Conflagration: 10% crit severity bonus, critical hits add smolder = more
Smolder and Glowing Flame damage. Too handy to leave your power bar.

- Evocation for 10% more aoe damage, if you focus on encounters spells.
- Combustive Action for very fast AP gain (about 3x faster) can make a better option
than aoe damage buff, since you’ll be able to cast aoe dailies very often. The more
enemies you face, the better it is.
- Swath of Destruction : 3% party buff for all attacks on foes affected by Smolder, which
also gets a 10% damage buff. Very versatile.

Encounters spells, fast fights with few enemies :

- Chill strike on mastery : cold, becomes aoe with a cap of 5 targets.
- Fireball : best aoe damage, easiest way to add smolder on packs.
- Icy terrain : aoe, dot, cold, adds chill stacks quickly, procs Smolder/Glowing Flames
every second during 10 sec (if critical hit)
- Fanning the Flame has finally a good dps and a reasonable cd. It’s great against tough
mobs surrounded by zergs. Not affected by Evocation.

Encounters spells, long fights with lots of enemies :

- Fanning the Flame on mastery
- Conduct of ice only procs Smolder once on each target, but will proc Glowing Flames
each second for 8 sec on critical hit.
- Icy terrain
- Fireball
Full focus on fire and dot spells, the goal is to spread Smolder and Glowing Flames as much as
possible.

Dailies :
- Arcane Singularity : very large radius, tons of damage since it procs smolder and
glowing flames a lot, but only on a critical hit. The spell lasts about 5 sec.
- Furious Immolation : good and instant damage, large radius, very useful for packing
mobs together and hence spread glowing flames damage. Always adds Smolder. Best
aoe daily for short fights.
- Ice Knife st finisher spell against strong and cc immune foes.

At-will :
- Chilling Cloud : the best aoe at-will available, despite only the two first hits are st.
 - Scorching Burst is a bit slow, not very convenient to use, damage isn’t good, but it’s
very effective to add Smolder/Glowing Flames. Target cap of 5.

Strategy : the idea is to spread as often as possible Smolder and Glowing flames to mobs.
Thanks to Critical Conflagration, it’s automatic when dealing critical damage, meaning that Crit is
the most important rating in this buid. Combustive Action will allow you to cast your aoe daily
almost as often as an encounter spell. Due to the mechanic of Glowing Flames, this build allows
your dps to be exponential with the amount of enemies.

Pyromaniac build, Boss Fights

This build is quite identical to the previous PVE build. The only main difference is that in 1v1,
fast AP gain is no longer possible.
The idea of this build is to deal huge Smolder damage, about 20-25% of your total DPS. On
paper, Directed Flames allows up to one tick every second, meaning additional mag 150
damage/sec, which is more than decent. In practice, it’s possible to go below (my personal
record is 0.7 sec).
Using control encounters and dailies will proc Shatter Strike on every cc immune target (mag =
200).
The thaumaturge doesn’t have as much burst dps as the arcanist, but has better average
damage and is able to buff all allies’ damage by 3% (Swath of Destruction).
This build relies a lot on encounters, so any source cd reduction is welcome.

Feats : same as previous Pyromaniac PVE build. Consequently, you won’t need an additional
loadout, unless you want 2 specific builds with different T1 feats for either cd reduction or better
AP gain.
If you’re not able to refill your AP within 60 seconds, better pick AP gain.
Smoldering Recovery grants about 10% more AP.
Relative Haste reduces cooldowns by 5%.

Class Features :
- Critical Conflagration*: 10% crit severity bonus, critical hits add smolder. Since
Smolder is no longer dot, this class feature is mandatory considering that cold powers
don’t add Rimefire Smolder reliably.
- Swath of Destruction** grants a 3% damage buff for the whole party and a personal
10% Smolder damage buff.

* There is no alternative to Critical Conflagration. On paper, the Chilling Advantage feat is

supposed to add Rimefire Smolder everytime you add Chill, but in practice the frequency drops
to 0.5-0.6 hit/sec (Even with Icy Veins on). Moreover you lose Shatter Strike, which deals about
10% of the total dps.

** Orb of Imposition (+5% damage to control spells), Chilling Presence (+3% overall damage)
and Arcane Presence (+5% damage to fire/cold spells) grant personal damage buffs, but all
remain weaker than Swath of Destruction.

Encounters :
 - Ray of enfeeblement on mastery (targets takes 10% magical/range more damage and
deal 10% less damage for 10 seconds)
or
- Fireball on mastery if another wizard in party is using RoE already
- Icy Rays
- Repel
- Chill strike
We don’t use Entangling Force, it seems to somehow reduce the frequency of Smolder.

Dailies :
- Ice Knife
- Furious Immolation if the boss invokes regulars adds, very useful for packing mobs
together and hence spreading glowing flames damage.
- Oppressive Force if the boss has cc immune adds, typically the Lair of the Mad Mage’s
last boss (it will proc Shatter Strike 5 times on each target: Magnitude = 790+200x5
=1790).

At-will :
- Chilling cloud
- Magic Missile
Never use Ray of Frost. It has lower dps and doesn’t proc Smolder consistently.

Rimefire Weaving build, Boss fights only

This build is very similar to the previous Pyromaniac build, except we will use Rimefire
Weaving, meaning more powerful spells but much less Smolder damage since it will tick every 3
seconds only. Overall DPS is a bit lower, and it is less efficient against several targets (adds or
PVE), but the gameplay is easier to master.

Feats :
- Relative Haste(cd reduction) > Smoldering Recovery (faster AP gain). The AP gain
from SR is lower in this build since you don’t have the Directed Flames feat.
- Glowing Flames (useful if adds)
- Shatter strike
- Frigid Winds or Critical Burn. If you have less than 80% Critical Severity, CB may be
better.
- Rimefire Weaving : +15% damage (still bugged, should be only 10%) if target affected
by rimefire smolder

Class Features :
- Critical Conflagration: 10% crit severity bonus, critical hits add smolder (so no need of
fire power)
- Swath Of Destruction mostly for the 3% party damage buff
- Orb of Imposition: control spells deal 5% more damage
- Chilling Presence: grants 3% (= 0.5% x 6 chill stacks) more personal dps

Encounters :
- Ray of Enfeeblement on mastery
 or
- Icy Rays on mastery if another wizard in party is using RoE already

- Entangling force
- Repel
- Chill strike

Dailies:
- Ice Knife
- Furious Immolation/Arcane Singularity if the boss invokes regulars adds, very useful
for packing mobs together and hence spreading glowing flames damage.
- Oppressive Force if the boss summons cc immune adds (it will proc Shatter Strike 5
times on each target: Magnitude = 790+200x5 =1790).

At-wills:
- Chilling Cloud (highest dps, high AP gain), always
- Magic Missiles to keep arcane stacks maxed (buff for Entangling force and Repel)
- Scorching burst to manually add Smolder at the beginning of the fight in case you didn’t
pick Critical Conflagration

Pvp build

Full focus on the cold aspect and the control spells.

Because of its access to single target cold spells and its ability to add chill and freeze close
enemies fast (Icy Veins, Frost Wave), the thaumaturge has more assets for pvp than the
arcanist.

Feats :
- Relative Haste (cd reduction). Smoldering Recovery is also an option to generate AP a
bit faster, but only works if the target is affected by Smolder
- Icy veins
- Shatter strike
- Frigid Winds
- Rimefire Weaving

Class Features (control):

- Orb of Imposition: control spells last 25% longer
- Frost wave: all nearby enemies get instantly frozen when using a daily
Class Features (dps):
- Critical Conflagration: 10% crit severity bonus, critical hits add Smolder (so no need of
Scorching Burst at-will)
- Chilling Presence: you deal 6% more damage against frozen targets

Encounters :
- Shield (30% temp HP, deals damage to nearby foes when they’re consumed). On
mastery jumps to 40% HP.
- Icy Rays on mastery (magnitude of 1000)
- Entangling force
 - Repel
- Chill strike

Dailies:
- Ice Knife(st)
- Ice Storm (aoe)

At-wills:
- Ray of Frost, adds chill faster than Chilling Cloud and most important is able to freeze
targets.
- Scorching burst to manually add Smolder in case you didn’t pick Critical Conflagration.

The Arcanist

The arcanist specialisation is based on the former spellstorm. It focuses on arcane and lightning
spells with a dose of randomness. He’s the evolution of the former spellstorm renegade.
Arcanist has access to all arcane spells, but can only cast a small selection of cold spells and
has no access to fire magic. He will rather focus on making his arcane spells very efficient,
counting on passive combat advantage and improved arcane stacks. Besides, the lightning and
cold spells will complete the arcanist’s dps.

Arcane Empowerment build, Boss fights

This is atm the wizard build with the highest burst dps, making it ideal for boss fights in parties
with artefact calls. Since it mostly relies on the Arcane Empowerment daily, high AP gain is
needed (race, high constitution, artefacts, boon, gear).

Feats:
- Spell Twisting, every AP source is highly welcome
- Assailing Force, 10% chance that encounters deal double damage, aka 10% average
buff on encounters
 - Chaos Magic : encounter and daily powers have a 7% chance to restore 20% of your
AP, to double the encounter cd recovery or to double your damage during 5 sec.
- Striking Advantage : extra DPS when you deal damage with combat advantage
- A Step Above Mastery : Up to 10 arcane stacks, arcane damage buffed by 1% for
every stack (0.5% without). Good for boss fights, but also viable for pve when combined
with Arcane Presence.

Passive spells:
- Storm Spell
- Arcane Power Field (finally fixed)

Encounters:
- Ray of enfeeblement on mastery (targets takes 10% magical/range more damage and
deal 10% less damage for 10 seconds)
- Disintegration
- Repel
- Entangling force
- Arcane Conduit
- Arcane tempest (if adds or minions)

Ray of Enfeeblement reduces the damage dealt by the target by 10%. Moreover, on mastery, it
increases the magical/ranged damage taken by the target by 10% (10sec, party buff)

Disintegration is the encounter with fastest cooldown and highest DPS.

Repel has the shortest cooldown and good dps as well.

Entangling force normally hits 4 times. But if you have 5 arcane mastery stacks, it will hit a 5th
time (= +25% damage). If you have 10 stacks, it will even hit a 6th time (= +50% damage) !

Arcane Conduit has low magnitude (200) but grants a personal 15% buff on all arcane
powers.It’s an good alternative to Ray of Enfeeblement when many arcanist wizards are in the
party, since the buffs on the latter don’t stack.

Arcane tempest has lower dps but deals small radius aoe damage, meaning it’s good if the
boss has minions.

Daily: Arcane Empowerment

At-wills:
- Magic Missile
- Storm Pillar (aoe) against adds
Magic Missile now has better DPS than Ray of Frost and Arcane Bolt (at-will alone and in
combination with Storm Spell + Poisoned Thorn). Considering the AP gain, Ray of Frost is only
3% faster.
Alternating Magic Missile and Ray of Frost will help you get the benefits from the Snap Freeze
feat. Using Rof on target until it has 6 stacks of chill will deal extra Chill damage 6 times. Then
use MM until the chill icon is gone (3 sec), and Rof again. The strategy only works if no other
wizard in your party uses cold powers.

This build mainly relies on the daily Arcane Empowerment. When up, encounters
cooldowns are considerably reduced, and deal 10% more damage for 10 sec. So, the goal
is to cast as many encounters as possible during this lap of time. Best time to use this
sequence is while buffing effects are up (for example mount active powers, artifact
powers) and when you’re sure not getting interrupted, stunned or shapeshifted into a
chicken…
Since the cd of artefacts and mount powers is 60 sec, you must be able to generate 100%
of your AP in less than 60 sec or even 30 sec to use it twice a minute.

As long as Arcane Empowerment is active, your powers won’t generate any AP. However, other
AP sources like Spell Twisting, Quick Action mount passive and corrupted black ice overloads
will.
For artefact active powers, it depends: Sigil of the Devoted will grant AP, but Envenomed
Storyteller’s Journal won’t.

Elemental Build, PVE

This PVE build is useful in short fights against few enemies.

Feats
- Spell Twisting
- Snap Freeze : good source of dps but only if you use cold powers (Ray of Frost and Icy
Terrain) in pve. It won’t proc anymore when 6 stacks of chill are reached.
- Chaos Magic : encounter and daily powers have a 7% chance to restore 20% of your
AP, to double the encounter cd recovery or to double your damage during 5 sec.
- Nightmare Wizardry : a chance to grant Combat Advantage to your attacks. Huge buff
for pve.
- At-wills:

Passive spells:
- Storm Spell
- Evocation for a permanent 10% buff of all aoe spells

- Storm Fury (solo pve only) : you automatically hurt every mob attacking you. 3s cd for
each opponent. If 5 mobs attack you, all 5 get hurt every 3 sec.

Encounters:
- Icy terrain (aoe, dot) procs Snap Freeze at each tick and is the best way to trigger Storm
Spell.
- Lightning bolt (aoe, non arcane).
- Steal time (aoe, dot) best dps, largest radius, fast cast, stuns opponents
 - Arcane Tempest (aoe but small radius), adds 1 arcane stack for each foe hit. The
magnitude and radius aren’t insane, but the cd is short and the cc very useful. On
mastery, centred on you, deals 10% more damage but no extra radius.

- Disintegration. Single target but short cd and good dps, especially if the target is below
20% life (+50% damage). It’s the best finisher encounter available for wizards.

Dailies:
- Arcane Singularity
- Ice Knife

At-wills:
- Ray of Frost (procs Snap Freeze)
- Storm Pillar

Gameplay:
Alternate arcane, cold and lightning spells to increase damage (Elemental Reinforcement
feat).

Arcane Mastery Build, PVE

This PVE build is more effective in long fights against lots of mobs.

Feats
- Spell Twisting
- Snap Freeze : good source of dps but only if you use cold powers (Ray of Frost and Icy
Terrain) in pve. It won’t proc anymore when 6 stacks of chill are reached.
- Chaos Magic : encounter and daily powers have a 7% chance to restore 20% of your
AP, to double the encounter cd recovery or to double your damage during 5 sec.
- Nightmare Wizardry : a chance to grant Combat Advantage to your attacks. Huge buff
for pve.
- A Step above Mastery

Passive spells:
- Storm Spell
- Arcane Presence

- Storm Fury (solo pve only) : you automatically hurt every mob attacking you. 3s cd for
each opponent. If 5 mobs attack you, all 5 get hurt every 3 sec.

Encounters:
- Icy terrain (aoe, dot) procs Snap Freeze at each tick and is the best way to trigger Storm
Spell.
- Steal time (aoe, dot) best dps, largest radius, fast cast, stuns opponents
- Arcane Tempest (aoe but small radius), adds 1 arcane stack for each foe hit. The
magnitude and radius aren’t insane, but the cd is short and the cc very useful. On
mastery, centred on you, deals 10% more damage but no extra radius.
 - Disintegration. Single target but short cd and good dps, especially if the target is below
20% life (+50% damage). It’s the best finisher encounter available for wizards.
- Lightning bolt (aoe, non arcane).
- Repel on mastery is also an option, it will hit every foes in a line.

Combination of Icy Terrain and Snap freeze makes great dps. Both are buffed by arcane
presence (1% per arcane stack up to 10%). It procs every time you add chill stacks, as long as
targets aren’t frozen (1 to 5 stacks). So, it’s less powerful if 1 of your party mates is a wizard.

Dailies:
- Arcane Empowerment
- Oppressive Force, good damage, 5 ticks, each is able to proc Storm Spell. Every target
hit grants an arcane mastery stack.
- Ice Knife as a st finisher spell

At-wills:
- Ray of Frost (procs Snap Freeze)
- Storm Pillar

Gameplay:
Use Arcane Empowerment, Oppressive Force or Repel (mastery) to gain arcane stacks
quickly at the start of the fights.

Thaumaturge or Arcanist ?
For end-game content, the thaumaturge is now the new standard. For aoe, Smolder grants a
significant damage boost. The combination of Smolder with the Singularity daily makes one of
the best nuke power available in-game, and with the right tweaks you’ll be able to cast it very
often.
The thaumaturge is also best for boss fights, with st spells dealing solid dps against cc immune
targets, as well as additional Smolder damage. Moreover the Singularity daily is able to deal with
adds better than any other spell.

Wizard’s bag of tricks

Arcanist

★ Oppressive Force and Repel on mastery are the fastest ways to stack arcane mastery in
pve since 1 stack is gained for every target hit.

★ Storm Spell + dot spells: Storm Pillar, Ray of Frost, Icy Terrain, Steal Time, Oppressive
Force. Classic for pve.

★ Spell synergy, aoe situations: A Step above Mastery feat + Arcane Presence will buff
your cold and lightning damage, including passive spells (Storm Spell and Snap Freeze).
 Use Arcane Tempest, Oppressive Force and eventually Repel (mastery) to gather
arcane stacks fast.

★ Entangling force normally hits 4 times. But if you have 5 arcane stacks, it will hit a 5th
time (= +25% damage). If you have 10 stacks (with Arcane Mastery feat, arcanist only), it
will even hit a 6th time (= +50% damage). Not sure at all this is intended…

★ In boss fights, the arcanist’s best asset is the Arcane Empowerment daily. Best use it
when artifacts and mounts buffs are up. You should be able to restore 100% of your AP
within 60 sec.

Thaumaturge

★ Fight close to enemies in pve, you’ll add an extra chill stack by casting encounters (Icy
veins feats) and hence freeze them faster (control and proc of Shatter).

★ For pve, Chill Strike on mastery is an obvious choice since it becomes aoe (5 targets cap
anyway).

★ Icy Ray is more efficient when cast on 2 different targets, since each takes 600
magnitude. A single target will only take 850.

★ Oppressive Force is very powerful against packs of control immune foes, since it procs
Shatter Strike 5 times.

★ Thaumaturge’s aoe encounter spells don’t have a large radius. Casting Furious
Immolation at the start of a fight will pack your enemies together.

★ For boss fights: Maximizing arcane stacks to 5 adds a 5th tick to Entangling Force, thus
making its damage enhanced by 25%. But Arcane Stacks get reinitialized every 8 sec if
no Arcane Spell is cast. Repel and Entangling Force are the only arcane encounters we
use, and their cooldowns are over 10 sec. The only way to keep Arcane Stacks up is to
cast a single blow of Magic Missile within 8 sec.

★ In boss fights, all control encounter spells (Repel, Entangling Force, Icy Rays, Chill Strike
and Icy Terrain) will always proc Shatter Strike on the target (200 mag).

★ The buff from Rimefire Weaving is personal, but Swath of Destruction is still buffing the
whole party. 3% doesn't seem huge, but buffing 10 people by 3% is a far better option
than only yourself by 3% with Chilling Presence. Moreover, it’s sometimes bugged and
grants the double (when smolder stacks with rimefire).