Wands and the Wand of Power

Commiades

Active Member
Joined
16/08/2020
Messages
164
Has anyone tried a build to get the most out of the Wand of Power? The Wiki stats on it need to be updated: its damage is 9-17 and its critical chance is a scary 8%. That makes its DPS 14.8. On Casual, I built a mage around this with maxxed out Precision Hits and Massive Criticals; obviously I needed Wand Mastery IV and Arcanist III (with Mana Surge II), so this represents an investment of 29 skill points. However, with buffed AGI 6 and AWA 6 this gives a DPS of 34.6 without any adjustment for the effects of crits (which I think the system generates in the DPS). With this you have a 1 in 5 chances of a critical doing 78-102 damage and killing every second weaker opponent.

Actually wands work very well with Precision Hits and Massive Criticals, as they have high base criticals and have a fast rate of fire. The critical hits haven't been updated on the Wiki; many show as 4% (most of the images have been updated, but not the table). I was put off trying Wands because of this (and because of the lack of comment on the Forum in their favour).

On the build described above the Branch of the Holy Tree does a base 32-36 with a 15% crit chance against shadows (with the bonus for Banishing and Spirit rolled in) and the Sceptre of the Underworld does 31-38 with a 17% crit chance against Ursans.

I've got two mages on Hard going at the moment, one is a Lvl 18 staff build and the other is a Lvl 16 wand build just about to start using the Wand of Power (and downplay the elementalist skills). I actually prefer the wand, as one of the benefits of the pushback is that it knocks enemies into the companion meaning you don't have to move as much.

That said, the elemental staffs are awesome, and besides Fire damage (especially the Wand of Incineration), Wand Mages don't get anything comparable until very late (the Tesla Emitter and the Cristallized Wand). Surprisingly, they don't get anything that does any Toxic damage at all.

More generally, the Forum describes two basic builds, the Summoner and the Elementalist. Another route, perhaps called the Arcanist, is going all out on Precision Hits and Massive Criticals along with Destruction. I've completed it on casual with a staff. I did get the Lightning Bolt skill, but mostly for the stun chance, and only took it past Lvl II in the late game. It might not be the strongest build, but it's a lot of fun.
 

PeteNewell

New Member
Joined
13/09/2020
Messages
4
I have rebuilt my lvl 24 mage entirely around the wand of power as a “pure” arcanist. Seems to work and yeah, is a lot of fun.

Traits:
Str 0, End 5, Agi 6 (7), Int 6 (8), Awa 4(6), Per 4

Skills:
wand mastery 4, mage armor 3, mana surge 3
extra recovery 3
arcanist 3, precision shots 3, mage barrier 3
disintegration 2 and counting

Gear ( for max mana):
Crown of Galade, Tunic of Lightning Priest,
Essence Gloves, Amulet of Dark Whispers, Varannari Cat, Ring of Mentalism and then Planewalker / Red Sorcerer / Arcanist’s Ice as needed
Cloak of Dark Fate, Black Silk Leggings,
Sandals of the Saint, Blessed Belt of Agility

Grissenda as tank/meat shield.

I can safely say It’s an effective build against everything but the inner Pit, Sewers and Ark (haven’t gone with this build yet). Time will tell.

The combined bounce from the wand and mage barrier is awesome at punting out melee enemies to where Grissenda can occupy them.

As a k/o punch, disintegration is single target, High-cost and slow recovery. It’s awesome for ending artillery duels, with mages, but with an Arcane V wand mana is already a major issue. I might yet “compromise” here and switch it back out for lightning bolt.

Fortunately, you can start sinking serious cash into greater mana potions from Icemist at this point, because what else are you gonna spend it on?
(As usual, health ceases to be an issue once you hit the sunken citadel and can quickly collect elixers of galade.)
 

Commiades

Active Member
Joined
16/08/2020
Messages
164
I'd go for Massive Criticals as well; my mage has STR 3, END 4 and with Bodybuilding and the force belt, she has a stack of HP. Massive Criticals are what make this so much fun. You instakill frequently.
 

U.K

Translator
Joined
19/08/2020
Messages
26
I'd go for Massive Criticals as well; my mage has STR 3, END 4 and with Bodybuilding and the force belt, she has a stack of HP. Massive Criticals are what make this so much fun. You instakill frequently.
What a savage build!
 

Top