Hey guys! I've been playing with this build for a while now, and I've had some moderate success. I haven't killed Dredmor yet, but I attribute that mainly to bad luck and human error. I would love to get some feedback on the build, though! The skills I've chosen are: Fleshsmithing Mathemagic Viking Wizardry Astrology Magic Training Blood Mage Ley Walker To start out I just use Power of Magic Steel until I get my first level up (or use Zombys, since the last patch). Then I pick Skatha's Roots, since the damage is adequate on the first level, and the denial of enemy movement that it grants continues to be useful throughout the game. Afterwards I get Arctic Vortex since it deals more damage and a lot of enemies (especially on the second floor) are immune to the asphyxiative damage of Skatha's Roots. After that I put one point into Fleshsmithing in order to get Knit Tissue, my main way of healing, and consider Fleshsmithing done. Then I level up Viking Wizardry up all the way to Thor's Fulminaric Bolt, which will be one of my main damage dealing spells throughout the game. After that I will usually put a point into Blood Mage in order to fuel my mana my efficiently - though sometimes I will do so before I get Thor's Fulminaric Bolt. Then I will fully level up Mathemagic in order to get access to Zenzizenzizenzic to boost my magic power, Xeuclid's Translation to get a better teleport (I consider a way of teleportation as vital as a dedicated way of healing is), as well as The Recursive Curse which is a really strong DoT spell. After that the main build is essentially done and I'll drop points into Magic Training to boost spell power and reduce spell costs, as well as Blood Mage and Ley Walker in order to further fuel my spells. Astrology is basically just a filler spell, only there for the decent low-cost Radiant Aura spell as well as giving me another Wizard level from the start of the game. The way I see it, there are two major weaknesses with this build. First, the build doesn't have any good AoE spells. Thor's Fulminaric Bolt does deal AoE damage, but while the damage against the directly targeted enemy is good, the AoE damage is puny. It could be an option to level up Fleshsmithing in order to get Corpus Burst and Miasmatic Putrefaction, but when would I be able to squeeze in those skill points without hurting my build in other ways? Secondly, traps are very dangerous to this build due to the low trap sight radius, unless you get some equipment that boosts that. A possibility could be to swap Astrology for Burglary and level it up to Lucky Pick in order to get +1 trap sight radius, as well as the ability to pick every lock in the game and all the free experience and extra loot that follows - though I'd be effectively losing two wizard levels as well as the neat Radiant Aura. What are your thoughts?
If you're a mage you want the following things. A powerful single target attack that's cheap. A powerful AOE attack that can kill lots of stuff with a few casts. A form of teleport A way of replenishing mana As long as you have each of these things. You can play a good mage. I like to use psionics because it provides some early game guns, a heal spell, and pyrokinesis, one of the best single target attacks in the game. I also like necronomiconomics because of tenebrous rift. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to try necronomiconomics. Promethian is a good school too because it offers some good aoe options and has a summon. I think it's a bit boring, personally. mages don't need ley walker that much, blood magic is much more useful. Archaeology is also a very useful mage skill, it allows you to spot traps more easily, and it allows you to level up more quickly. furthermore, this translation is all wrong is a great ability for rerolling rings until you get a good mod, like mana regen. Golemancy is good because unliving wall allows you to control the flow of monsters. golemancy plus teleport is a great combo for a control oriented mage.
Magic Training, leywalker, and bloodmagic are great fuel spells but I'd advise against using all three. No one really NEEDS that much mana. You can get by with one, or any combination of two for safety's sake. Bloodmagic is great for carving through enemies but leywalker tends to be more consistent and magic training makes stuff cheap! All good choices in my opinion. I also highly recommend taking a rogue skill for traps. Good choices include perception, burglary, tinkering, and archaeology. They all have their pros and cons and will dilute your sagacity growth a touch, but the increase in survivability from trap sight is well worth the trade. So I'd swap out fuel for trap finding, but the rest of your build looks pretty solid. You've got heals and aoe from fleshsmithing and teleport and plenty of single targets from mathemagic. If you need more advice on skills in general. Go here.
