Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 clig76 Apr 17, 2010 19:00:54	My party used to have 3 strikers (with one being a dragon magic sorcerer) a leader and a defender. To even things out I switched from a sorcerer to a control wizard. Granted I am only Level 2 but the Control Wizard just seemed a little underwhelming. I might very well be playing the Wizard well below his full potential but I really prefered the Sorcerer. Anyway, I noticed the Sorcerer's secondary role is a Controller. Im wondering if he can be a suitable stand in for an actual controller. Thanks
#2 Swordior Apr 17, 2010 19:06:09	The sorcerer does make a good side controller. A lot of his powers are Area bursts and blasts to hit multiple enemies. They may not have as many debilitating effects, but they tend to do more damage.
#3 brc Apr 17, 2010 22:02:40	Sorcerer as controller will excel at dealing area damage, but not so much at locking down solos/elites.
#4 clig76 Apr 17, 2010 22:22:46	Sorcerer as controller will excel at dealing area damage, but not so much at locking down solos/elites. Gotcha. My party is still on H1 in and havent encountered any solo's or elites yet. Maybe when we do I will change my mind about the controller Wizard.
#5 kouk Apr 17, 2010 23:42:29	Wizards, and Controllers in general, do best when they're screwing up monsters' days. Not just HP damage -- any character can do that. Wizards instead make it maddeningly impossible for monsters (and sometimes the DM controlling the monsters) to work at full capacity against your party. If a P.O.'d monster gets up to you, you throw up Shield or just pop out of there, then run behind the Fighter and flip the monster off while you continue to screw over his friends. Here are some basics: Wizards have pretty much the best Daily powers in the game. Their at-wills are kind of uninspiring though. Their Encounter and Daily powers run the gamut, but contain numerous "trap" powers that look good, but actually suck. You may have chosen a couple of those by accident. Wizards are Controllers, probably the best Controllers yet. "Direct Damage" is not really your concern. If you target a minion, a single point of damage tends to get the job done just fine. Any damage you do beyond that is "icing" on top of what the power really does. Normally you would want an at-will area spell for clearing out minions with little effort. The second at-will is mostly preference, but Magic Missile is usually a poor performer unless you have a Warlord that can grant you "basic attacks" somehow. Certainly not useless, just not impressive. Level 1 Encounter powers, just from the PHB, are kind of ... not super awesome. There's not much to do about that, but probably the best choices are Icy Terrain or Chill Strike. Knocking Prone is huge (you make monsters spend actions getting up, and they grant combat advantage or take attack penalties if they stay down), and Dazing is super huge (one action, no immediates, grant combat advantage). The downside with Chill Strike is that it targets Fort, which is often pretty high. If you choose targets wisely or can boost your attack power then it will still be fairly reliable. Force Orb is one of those "trap" abilities in almost all circumstances. It's a poor excuse for a damage spell and can fail a lot. Its numbers are higher than others you have, but remember real strikers get tons of other bonuses to damage. And damage isn't really your priority. Flaming Sphere is one of those "best Dailies in the game" spells. If you use it at the right time, and early enough, you devastate a battlefield. Not all at once, but every dang round it keeps pumping out damage, and has a good chance of making minions "pop." The attack power it has is not all that necessary, just sustaining it and moving it gets the job done most of the time. This kind of Sustainable power is where Wizards can do very noticeable damage, but it's spread out over the whole fight. Sleep can be crazy powerful, but to the point of making the game boring. I disallow it as an option when I'm the DM and avoided it intentionally when I had a Wizard. The monsters passing out and getting coup de graced is cool like once, then it makes you wonder what kind of wusses these monsters are and the other players are bored because they didn't actually do anything. When you get to level 3, you will suddenly feel very much more powerful. If you choose Color Spray I mean. Color Spray is damn good, and you'll probably want to keep it even well past the low levels.
#6 clig76 Apr 18, 2010 0:48:40	Great advice here. I definetly wasnt playing my wizard right. I can see how he can be pretty effective.
#7 kouk Apr 18, 2010 2:43:26	Since you have mostly non-AC targeting powers, try to choose for the situation (well, when you have enough powers at least). Big bruisers have low Reflex and Will but high Fort, spellcasters have low Fort. Always exceptions, but it's pretty safe to bet on that. And in Keep on the Shadowfell, I think a Wizard will soon be in very high demand.
#8 diggles Apr 24, 2010 15:40:24	Since you have mostly non-AC targeting powers, try to choose for the situation (well, when you have enough powers at least). Big bruisers have low Reflex and Will but high Fort, spellcasters have low Fort. Always exceptions, but it's pretty safe to bet on that. And in Keep on the Shadowfell, I think a Wizard will soon be in very high demand. Yes, its very important to make sure you have a different mix of single target & aoe, and make sure all your spells arent all against the same save