Brawling Mage

[petroglyph]

I haven't played in years, but I'm thinking about coming back, at least for a brief period. The problem: my wizard (mid-50s levelwise) was a brawler who hunted entirely with Voln Fu. I left before the unarmed combat system was revamped, and of course before the Haste changes went through. Is there anyone else playing a UAC wizard who'd be willing to talk me through how Celerity and UAC work together and whether this build is still feasible at all?

[Maerit]

UAC warmage works very well, at least early on. It might start to taper off as you level up, but at 36 (where I have my warmage now), it's pretty fast.

You only need 10 ranks of Air Lore to get 1 second kicks. You don't need any ranks of Air Lore to get 1 second jab/punch/grapple.

You'll want 20-25 ranks of Air Lore to aim your kicks (which won't be effective until much later, if ever, because you won't have any Ambush training).

The goal of UAC Warmage is to beat your opponent to death with a furious barrage of kicks and punches. Early on (to about level 25) you will only really need to spam one attack type (I went with kick as it's higher DF once I had 10 ranks of air lore). Once you get to a certain level, you'll want to get a script that will tier you up quickly (like combo). This will make it easy to get to "decent" or "excellent" positioning and improve your MM, which is the primary crit modifier for unarmed combat.

Quick break-down. UAF is the unarmed equivalent of AS. UAF is not the primary damage factor for unarmed combat. It contributes, and helps you succeed in landing your attacks, but MM tends to be more important. MM is a crit multiplier that will increase as you gain better positioning against targets (along with other various factors). As a wizard, you will have pretty weak MM, but you will attack so fast that it can balance out pretty well. To get better positioning you will see messaging like they are vulnerable to a follow-up "attack type" after landing a successful hit. Jabs and Punches allow "tier-ups" more commonly than Grapple or Kick.

Targets have a UDF, which is their defense against unarmed. It changes mostly based on stance. I find that knocked down targets do not often have lower UDF, so being able to feint is useful.

Do not equip any weapons or shields. This will reduce your already low MM. Instead, get some UAC gloves / boots, learn 411 and e-blade your equipment. Read up on the eblade and 502 changes - they help warmages (also 909 changes). Voln is a great society for UAF warmages as it will unlock SMITE (unarmed combat method of making undead corporeal) and you can also use UAC without blessed equipment, but will lose the enchant and flaring benefits of any equipped gloves / boots.

Ensorcelling (sorcerer spell), at least T1, on your gloves and boots is a tremendous benefit! You will hit so often that you'll constantly be regenerating mana / health / and gaining the bonus attack power buff. Worth it.

Also be sure to learn how to use the new 902 for a boost to your brawling skill!

[petroglyph]

Thanks for that! I checked Whirlin's otherwise quite comprehensive wizard guide and its entire commentary on UAC was "I'm not even evaluating it as an option in this guide thingy," so I was a little worried about feasibility. Guess I'll have to find a new home for my shield, and reallocate skills. (I don't think my wizard has any CMAN at present, but it sounds like that ought to change.) But at least full leather shouldn't give any penalty to UAC if I'm reading the wiki right?

Off to read about SMITE and all the spell changes...

[Tenser]

Brawling wizard sounds awesome! Good luck with it.

[kutter]

There are probably more than you realize out there. I can say for sure it is viable at least until the 50's because I know someone that did it. My UAC mage is still in his low 30's but self spelled the only things that get him are the odd maneuvers, spiders seem to be his bane for some reason. Things to think about, get light stay light. Get to at least double leather, I am working on getting into breastplate. Just deal with the hinderance, you will want the protection. I use support mostly because being light seems more important than missing the odd cast. If you go voln, make sure you have blessed handwraps or gloves, tier up a couple of times and then wail away with your boots, does not matter if they are blessed you will be in a high enough tier to kill stuff pretty quickly. My boots are fire flaring and I have some weighted handwraps for when not hunting undead.

It is a really fun build, have fun with it, think outside the box. Until the find a way to nerf it of course.