At lower levels I used 904-Minor acid against the majority of targets because it was mana efficient and work very well against most creatures, including undead opponents.

- Major Fire works well against fire sensitive creatures (and water elementals as well).
- Minor fire has a higher DF than Major fire but you lose the splash/additional potential for stun so I tend to use it as a finisher on already stunned/prone targets.
- Major Cold works well against cold sensitive creatures (e.g. fire mages).
- Immolation is a great all around disabler spell at higher levels (when you have the mana to spare). Also very useful against opponents that can't be stunned.
- Major Shock is a great crowd reducer when you start getting swarmed faster than you can immolate (assuming you are in a safe area to cast it).
- Elemental dispel is pretty indispensable against critters that have prepped something and you ABSOLUTELY DON'T WANT THEM TO CAST. :p It's also good for making over spelled opponents easier to hit.
- Sometimes I use Hurl Boulder against targets that I want to try and finish a little faster.

That's probably my hunting staples in most areas. I know a lot of people like Hand of Tonis for it's knockdown ability (with enough air lore training) but I haven't used it much myself.

-- Robert aka Faulkil

"Wyrom isn't interacting with me, I think he is AFK scripting."

It depends a lot on the type of wizard, their level/mana pool, and where they hunt.

From the perspective of a low level wizard leveling up lores are not a factor and the spells you use most will likely be determined by mana considerations. 901/903/904 are going to be your staples for some time - and I guess that new 1700 when you have no mana! We have no cost-effective warding spells for the low levels and setup spells with the exception of Tonis bolt are too costly for regular use. But do keep an eye out for vulnerable targets. For example, using fire against an ice troll or water against a firephantom.

~Taverkin

>>after level 10 I rarely used 901 <<

901 is devastating when combined with rapid fire. Not going to be used that way by a newcomer, of course, but just mentioning.

"So, what does that green line on the graph represent?"
"Oh, that's the projection of a hypothetical offspring from a union between Sauron and Cruella de Ville; we use that as a baseline for determining character alignment."

Here's my recommendations:
- Armor use to 8 (for casting leathers) or 15 (for doubles)
- PF until you have your max health (1x closer to cap)
- 1x Arcance Symbols (or 2x)
- 2x MIU
- 2x Spell Aiming
- 2x Harness Power (some folks feel this is excessive but I strongly recommend it)
- 1x EMC (as you get near multiples of ten feel free to overtrain it by 1 or 2 ranks as you get 1 additional mana recovery for every 10 Ranks you have).
- at some point 10 ranks in SMC to facilitate trading mana with Spirit casters. At capped I still find 10 ranks is sufficient.

Spell training:
- Target to have 513 at 13th
- Target to have 425 at 25th
- Target to have 516 as early as you can manage (16th-20th)
- Target to be 1x in Wizard by 30th then 1x Wizard after that if you want to do enchanting.

-- Robert aka Faulkil

"Wyrom isn't interacting with me, I think he is AFK scripting."

Pretty sure Casting leathers are normally ASG7-Reinforced leather but maybe not? So:

Armor use to 4 for Full leather (ASG6), 8 for Reinforced leather (ASG7), 15 for double leather (ASG8).

-- Robert

"Wyrom isn't interacting with me, I think he is AFK scripting."

>>For warmages, of course, it's a completely different story. <<

I have my 7x, female only, zested HCP double leathers.

You may now wipe the drool off your collective chins; it's unsightly.



::This space for rent::

Manuevers are the best reason to get into doubles. That Extra Crit Divisor can save your life.

>>You'll have to explain that one to me. As far as I know, most (all?) maneuvers produce only critical damage. The crit divisor is only relevant in determining the outcome based upon raw damage, is it not? If that's correct, how does the extra crit divisor help with maneuvers?

You are correct, and it doesn't help with maneuvers. It should, but I don't see that changing any time soon.

<We'll keep going back and forth on this one forever... For physical SMRs and CMANs, I've found doubles to be more effective protection. For Spell based SMRs like Major e-wave, I've found no <correlation between armor padding/divisor and crit outcome.

I was just curious how the crit divisor would even apply in these situations? As I said, the crit divisor applies to raw damage, which maneuvers don't use. Regardless, if it's truly the crit divisor at work then it should be quite obvious because characters in plate class with double the crit divisor of soft leather would be basically invulnerable to any attack which takes this into account. I've never seen any evidence of that. However, it would at least be intuitive for there to exist a coverage bonus applied to maneuvers like headbutt - head covered? You get the bonus, regardless of armor group. But again, I've never seen or heard anything to indicate that this actually exists and the armor system as it stands has never been intuitive. Why start now, right?

~Taverkin