Wolcen has just come out, so naturally the best builds are not yet known. Here's a first basic spellcaster build for beginners. It will help you progress while waiting for more advanced tools to guide you step-by-step through the Gate of Fates.
Choice of skills
There are dozens of techniques available and you can only choose five to start with. You can consult the vendor in town, who often updates her inventory. Here's a short list of excellent, easy-to-use spells to play with:
Basic Spells
- Consuming Embers: A fireball that acts as a basic spell, simple and effective in almost any situation. By taking the rune to add projectiles, it becomes much more fearsome.
Or
- Annihilation: A fearsome laser in monocible. It's an excellent tool for killing bosses and elites. Favour runes to reduce its cost and increase its range. It can be viable in AoE if you sacrifice its damage by taking the piercing rune.
Or
- Infinity Blades: A series of melee attacks with 2 magic lightsabers. Devastating and classy, this technique will also regenerate your mind. If you want to fight in melee even while playing as a mage, this spell is for you.
AoE Spells
- Tear of Etheliel: A large area attack that inflicts heavy damage and can freeze enemies. It's perfect for killing a pack of enemies in one shot with good aim. Even on the elite, its damage is not to be underestimated.
Or/and
- Anomaly: Another area attack that inflicts heavy damage and will suck enemies into its center. Makes an excellent combo with Annihilation or with Etheliel's Tear if you like to demolish packs. Can be converted into an elemental spell as a bonus.
Support Spells
- Livor Mortis: A big golem of putrid flesh, and certainly one of the best techniques of the game in all classes. Just summon it and it will distract many enemies, tank and inflict damage. It's a fantastic survival gain that we advise you to keep, even without trying to play Necromancer, and therefore without investing any liabilities in it. You can also take the zombie archers as a complement if you like the concept. The melee zombies are almost useless, because they have too little life.
- Aether Jump: The teleportation that will save your life on the bosses, and save you time while exploring the map. Nothing is worse than running out of runes at the worst possible moment. With the runes of this spell, you will be almost elusive, and therefore very difficult to kill.
Or
- Light-bringer: Another form of teleportation, but one that inflicts damage on arrival and heals you in passing. But its cost in will is more important, which can block you at the worst moment, its range is also lower.
Attributes
Choosing which attribute to invest in is a difficult question. It will depend on how you want to play. In any case, we advise you to invest heavily in Toughness as your primary attribute, and then choose a second one according to your preferences:
- Direct damage/critical hits: Toughness and Ferocity
- Ailments (freezing, stasis)/long term damage (poison): Toughness and Wisdom
Equipment selection & statistics
- Unless you plan to play a hybrid class, equip a staff. This will be more cost effective in terms of overall performance.
- This is not mandatory, but it is generally better to use the Force Shield as a defensive statistic, as there are many bonuses and talents in this area in the (blue) spellcaster liabilities.
- You are going to look for the bonuses which affect the spells (it is specified), you should not confuse them with the bonuses with the attacks (which affect only the blows of you staff).
- In the same way, favour bonuses of willpower and avoid those of rage.
- Be careful, it is not very intuitive, but the spells damage and effects are divided into two large families, elementary damage (Fire, Lightning, Ice) and occult damage (Aether, Shadow, Sacred). You will very often come across the statistic "bonus elementary damage" or "bonus occult damage", you will have to take into account the spells you have selected, otherwise you will make a mistake in your choice of equipment. It may be wise to choose main spells with the same type of damage, or to use their runes to adapt their element.
Passives
For a spellcaster, blue dots are usually more suitable, but you can definitely invest in red and green dots if necessary.
For example, in the second circle, there are Ranger skills that also improve ranged combat as well as projectile spells, allowing them to throw more fireballs at the same time.
Don't hesitate to spin the wheels, or make useful "detours" with your points. You will be able to go in several directions in the future.
Here's a list of the most widespread generalist passives as well as the most useful for a spellcaster:
- Spell damage bonus (be careful what type of spell you use)
- Maximum Willpower and Rage Bonus
- Cost reduction in Will and Rage (indicated as a "+" ironically)
- Shield Bonus
- Life drain on spells
- Reduced recharging time
- Maximum Lifetime Bonus
- Ailments Score on spells
- Casting Speed score
- +25 Toughness
Afterwards, think about going to the specializations that correspond to what you want. There are sections dedicated to Shield, Ailments, Invocations, Stasis, Elements and more.
You'll have to focus on one or two elements of the gameplay, as it'll be difficult to do everything until you're very high level.
Apocalyptic form
This choice will only be offered to you at the end of Chapter 1, and you won't be able to change it before the end of the story. As a spellcaster, the most appropriate is the Aspect of Infinity, but the Aspect of War is also a possibility.
