Hunting Advice Needed

[usfregale]

I've had a wizard that I've enjoyed playing for years. She started out as a secondary character and has gradually become my primary. Unfortunately, she seems to have completely hit a wall as far as hunting and I am just completely befuddled as to what hunting area is appropriate for her. So far this week I've tried the temple on Teras, the ducts in Illistim, plane one in the rift, the tower in Illistim, and the minotaur labyrinth in landing.

She's died 29 times in the last seven days and I'm just beside myself on what is going to be appropriate for her. This was all triggered when she turned 77 last week and while technically she can still hunt fire mages for bounties, it really isn't effective.

So what hunting area or hunting style or both is appropriate for a wizard of her age? I'm just completely flustered with the whole thing. I know I'm far too close to think rationally, but I'm very frustrated.

Angry, frustrated, annoyed, and writing this at 3am in the morning.

[Eliaku]

Way to young for the temple. If you can fry in the tower thats your best bet. Its all about 912 or 410. Set them up then 906 or 510 them. Mana should not be an issue by now. Ducts can be tricky only because of the gremlock's garrote. But even them, once you hear the footsteps 410. Feel free to ask me questions.

[Boora]

agreed.

The temple was easy hunting grounds. I found it a little late, wish I would have taken the trip there when I hit about 75.

The ducts are doable at about 80 without much trouble other than the garrotes. Gotta be light. I died there a lot when I was even moderately encumbered from loot.

[Jymamon]

I'll third the tower (or I believe that's what Boora meant, too), but suggest 505 in place of 410/912 if you can cast the bolt form. Follow with either 906 if there's a single creature in the room or 908 if there's multiple. Keep 515 active for extra fun and leech the moulis if you run low on mana.

[Loagan]

Holy crap, go to Maag Tower in Illistim. You will be kicking yourself once you get in there for not having gone sooner. Just find someone to give you a couple spirit spells for that extra TD and get down on some nice squishy action. My mage is lvl 84 and just ran through that place. He hunts the ducts with no problems now save for the occasional garrote death (if your quick then you can get them before they even get a chance on you).

I'll get on later and post the script that I use to get into the tower.

By the way, can we see her build, it might help us to determine what kind of hunting style will work best for you.

[JustDan]

Get thyself to Plane One and load up on Raving Lunatics***. 515 + 904 and you're golden, self-spelled.

*** - I have not taken a mage there since before the Rift changes. This might now be a horrifically bad idea, but I hit the same wall at the same level you're talking about. Rift was how I handled it, and the loot was pretty damn sweet. Plus... it's a different environment than anything else in the game, and was fun to try and figure it all out.

[Loagan]

put touch green leaf

put touch gold leaf

put touch red leaf

put touch blight leaf

put touch hand

put recite Listen to the wind in the forest;That which whispers the words of the Lady of the Tower;She of old who is called Maaghara.


This is the script to get into Maaghara Tower in Illistim.

[phantasm]

Maaghara Tower is a gravy train, if you can't hunt there, your wizard is really in need of retraining.

[Loagan]

Maaghara Tower is a gravy train, if you can't hunt there, your wizard is really in need of retraining.

^^This.

[usfregale]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I agree the two places that she's most successful are the tower in Illistim and the ducts, I just really dislike both places. The ducts because of that terribly annoying garrote and the fact that a cheap death there almost certainly results in a decay and the tower because its just incredibly boring. Perhaps the tower isn't as bad as I think, but I hunted a rogue through there for nearly ten trains a few years ago and I'm still rather burned out on that area. I suppose the ducts it is. Its truly a shame that there isn't more variety available to folks in their 80s.

Someone had asked to see her build and its listed below. Currently working towards a fixstat which is badly needed. Also someone had mentioned that she really shouldn't have mana troubles at this stage. While its true that she hasn't had mana trouble for some time, she has started having them recently in the ducts. As she ages its getting easier (as 410 grows more effective against the critters), but I'm frequently having to come back halfway through a bounty or even without a full mind because of a lack of mana. That's using 410 as a disabling spell followed by 908 as an attack spell or 518 anytime there are three or more creatures present.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Merikas (at level 78), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 20 4
Combat Maneuvers...................| 20 4
Physical Fitness...................| 128 34
Arcane Symbols.....................| 206 106
Magic Item Use.....................| 206 106
Spell Aiming.......................| 260 160
Harness Power......................| 250 150
Elemental Mana Control.............| 172 72
Perception.........................| 74 16
Climbing...........................| 140 40
Swimming...........................| 150 50

Spell Lists
Major Elemental....................| 82

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 82

Spell Lists
Wizard.............................| 50

Name: Merikas Race: Halfling Profession: Wizard (shown as: Mage)
Gender: Female Age: 20 Expr: 5305151 Level: 78
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 58 (-11) ... 38 (-21)
Constitution (CON): 73 (21) ... 23 (-3)
Dexterity (DEX): 100 (40) ... 64 (22)
Agility (AGI): 80 (25) ... 52 (11)
Discipline (DIS): 90 (15) ... 58 (-1)
Aura (AUR): 100 (20) ... 64 (2)
Logic (LOG): 100 (30) ... 64 (12)
Intuition (INT): 85 (27) ... 55 (12)
Wisdom (WIS): 99 (24) ... 64 (7)
Influence (INF): 80 (10) ... 52 (-4)
Mana: 313 Silver: 0

[Eliaku]

1x harness power and go 3x spells. Get you AS up CS up (better leeching less mana issues) TD up and DS up. Ever hp you have over 1 x is just 1 mana. 15 training points for 1 mana.

[Jymamon]

1x harness power
^^ This.


go 3x spells.
^^ But I personally wouldn't do this.


That's using 410 as a disabling spell
Get 20 ranks for EL:Air for tonis bolt. Disable a critter for half the mana. (Or forgo it all together against single creatures.)


followed by 908
Except for against trolls who burn oh-so-nice, you're wasting mana here. Stick with 906 against solo creatures. Better damage and less mana at the cost of a bit of AvD.


518 anytime there are three
And here's where I'd use 908. 518 is nice, but generally not as nice, in my experience, as two casts of 908. You should be seeing a lot of stuns with 908, so the cast time (if you're not using Rapid Fire) isn't a terrible loss.


Physical Fitness...................| 128 34
You want to be getting this to 1x to defend against garrote and other maneuvers. I'm also an advocate of 1x perception for the same reason. Neither is a cure all since gremlocks still have a few levels on you, but they'll help.


Major Elemental....................| 82
Minor Elemental....................| 82
I don't see why you're overtraining in either of these. MjE overtrain is great if you're going for a immo build (and with no EL:Fire, I have to assume you're not), but if you're not the only CS spell you're likely casting is leech. That's a lot of TPs for a one spell. (Granted, it's a nice spell, but I can't imagine overtraining just for it.)

I'm against taking MnE past 75 as a bolter. I'd put these points elsewhere. See comment about PF and perception above. Alternately, put the points into 2x AS or MIU for some additional runestaff defense if you need that.

[milesalpha]

^^ This.


^^ But I personally wouldn't do this.


Get 20 ranks for EL:Air for tonis bolt. Disable a critter for half the mana. (Or forgo it all together against single creatures.)


Except for against trolls who burn oh-so-nice, you're wasting mana here. Stick with 906 against solo creatures. Better damage and less mana at the cost of a bit of AvD.


And here's where I'd use 908. 518 is nice, but generally not as nice, in my experience, as two casts of 908. You should be seeing a lot of stuns with 908, so the cast time (if you're not using Rapid Fire) isn't a terrible loss.


You want to be getting this to 1x to defend against garrote and other maneuvers. I'm also an advocate of 1x perception for the same reason. Neither is a cure all since gremlocks still have a few levels on you, but they'll help.


I don't see why you're overtraining in either of these. MjE overtrain is great if you're going for a immo build (and with no EL:Fire, I have to assume you're not), but if you're not the only CS spell you're likely casting is leech. That's a lot of TPs for a one spell. (Granted, it's a nice spell, but I can't imagine overtraining just for it.)

I'm against taking MnE past 75 as a bolter. I'd put these points elsewhere. See comment about PF and perception above. Alternately, put the points into 2x AS or MIU for some additional runestaff defense if you need that.

You forgot about elemental focus (513), a must have for any bolter, though not a reason to overtrain. I also completely disagree about 908 vs 518. Cone hits everything for full effect, Major Fire hits 1 creature full effect and up to 8 more decided by your level of firelore and MOC. If you are fighting 10 creatures, you are wasting a ton of mana trying to fireball them down.

[Jymamon]

You forgot about elemental focus (513)
Yeah, I should've been more clear. I'm all for keeping MjE at level, just not the overtraining (as you mentioned).


Major Fire hits 1 creature full effect and up to 8 more decided by your level of firelore and MOC.
It's a bit better than that. The base (no lore/MOC) is up to 0-8 splash (or 1-9 total targets). Then EL:Fire increases your splash range and MOC increases the targets actually hit. (Krakiipedia explains it better than I am here - http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_spell#Ball_Spell With 5 MOC and 42 EL:Fire, I splash a minimum of 6 and up to something like 15. Even in a full warcamp, it isn't too often that I'm not splashing the most of the room.


If you are fighting 10 creatures, you are wasting a ton of mana trying to fireball them down.
Point taken, though. I picked up EL:Fire and MOC fairly earlier for splash and forget that when I first learned it, 908 pretty much stunk.

[Boora]

Lots of great info above. You can see my training below.

Physical Fitness...................| 146 46
Arcane Symbols.....................| 201 101
Magic Item Use.....................| 201 101
Spell Aiming.......................| 302 202
Harness Power......................| 201 101
Elemental Mana Control.............| 201 101
Spirit Mana Control................| 40 8
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 102 24


Spell Lists
Major Elemental....................| 86

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 58

Spell Lists
Wizard.............................| 86


Personally...

You have low strength, as do I. [Strength (STR): 58 (-11) ... 58 (-11)]

I found it a must to get to 24 elemental air ranks so I could put boxes in a disk and reduce the weight I could hardly carry. 505 (Tonis Bolt) is also a first attack spell that I feel is the BEST disabling spell to a wizard for one critter. I rarely use 410 or 912 unless the critters have maneuvers and swarm.

NOTE: I do use +30 in spell aim enhancives and +10 in DEX Bonus enhancives when I go to the ducts or hunt Ithzir. But in Maaghara tower, I really didn't use enhancives, self spelled with 102 was usually just fine.

I've found that my CS is more than capable for all hunting areas I've been in the last 10-15 trainings due to younger critters being in the area --> mana leeching with zero fails to help make sure I can continue to hunt. This was done keeping 500's at 1x.

I've increased my 900's to 1x over the last 20 trainings due to slight defense problems. I'm not certain that 911 is more beneficial with increased ranks in 900's but it sure seems to be for me. At the same time, I also have been working on increasing Physical Fitness to 1x to increase my maneuver defense.

I'll be increasing the 'magic' skills as soon as my PF is at 1x. Currently I've been successful at enchanting fusion gear to 6x. I haven't worked on 7x due to the ayveneh pour modifier being too low ~ 65 or so.


I welcome any comments or thoughts, I'm still learning every day.

[phantasm]

Here is a level 90 bounty machine. Did you leave out some of your skills?



Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 111 27
Physical Fitness...................| 105 25
Arcane Symbols.....................| 190 90
Magic Item Use.....................| 235 135
Spell Aiming.......................| 284 184
Harness Power......................| 235 135
Elemental Mana Control.............| 190 90
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 102 24
Survival...........................| 190 90
Perception.........................| 145 45
Climbing...........................| 120 30
Swimming...........................| 145 45
First Aid..........................| 145 45
Trading............................| 165 65
Pickpocketing......................| 25 5

Spell Lists
Major Elemental....................| 105

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 75

Spell Lists
Wizard.............................| 52


Look at these sexy stats.



Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 99 (24) ... 99 (24)
Constitution (CON): 83 (11) ... 80 (10)
Dexterity (DEX): 94 (32) ... 94 (32)
Agility (AGI): 70 (15) ... 70 (15)
Discipline (DIS): 92 (11) ... 92 (11)
Aura (AUR): 100 (35) ... 100 (35)
Logic (LOG): 100 (25) ... 100 (25)
Intuition (INT): 98 (29) ... 98 (29)
Wisdom (WIS): 98 (29) ... 98 (29)
Influence (INF): 98 (19) ... 98 (19)
Mana: 23 Silver: 1664

[Rakisak_x]

Here is a level 90 bounty machine. Did you leave out some of your skills?



Look at these sexy stats.

That sir, is a bounty machine. Mmm.. Sexy.