Everything about Wizards

Wizards can be considered the squishiest in defenses out of all six classes. They are also thought of as one of the most dangerous if left alone untouched. The trade off of defense for power is what makes this class interesting and exciting. Wizard's get a wide array of skills including three elements of fire, water and earth. You will have many status affecting skills, self AoEs, and even ranged AoEs to cast at your bidding.

Introduction

I am Haiz from the server Lost City, and I have played as a wizard my entire Perfect World life and it has always been the most interesting class to me. The reason this class grabs my interest is because of the large amount of spells you can choose from, and most of them give some kind of effect to help you in different situations. As a beginner to Perfect World this can be overwhelming. This guide will try to simplify the countless skills, walk you through common stat builds, what stats do, and some leveling/PvP tips.

Basics

In Perfect World we advance through cultivation quests to better ourselves and obtain new and stronger skills. Starting at level 9, every 10 levels (19, 29, etc.) you will be able to find a quest to advance to the next cultivation and learn new skills. Each skill has its basic level 1-10 and to level them up you must meet the required level, have enough spirit and coins.

At level 89 you will be able to choose between becoming a sage wizard, or a demon wizard. A sage wizard is more focused on chi control and defensiveness, while a demon wizard skills will become more offensive and deadly. To learn to "11th" level of each skill you must either be a sage or demon wizard, and you will need the corresponding skill book that can be obtained through dungeons to upgrade your skill the final time.

A common question I see among wizards is what is the difference between channeling and casting time. Channeling is the amount of time it takes to prepare for casting the skill; this is evident when you see the skill bar filling up on your screen. Casting time is the amount of time it takes to perform the skill, the animation part you could say. So if we take pyrogram that takes 1.5 seconds to channel, then once it is finished channeling you will have 0.8 seconds till you can use your next spell. The reason why these are separated is your channeling can be interrupted, but once it is finished channeling it'll just take 0.8 seconds to cast. Also, you can find equipment with a '-% channeling' bonus that reduces the amount of channeling time for skills, but not casting time.

Stats & Common Builds

In Perfect World you have the freedom of putting in status points in how you want. You gain 5 stat points per level and have four types of stats being strength, vitality, magic, and dexterity. All the builds below are based on every 2 levels, which is why they add up to 10 instead of 5.

Strength - Mainly raised to meet requirements of equipment.

Vitality - Gives 10HP per level, used in some builds to raise HP.

Magic - Your main stat that gives you more magic attack and a higher MP pool.

Dexterity - Every 20 dexterity gives 1% crit, also used in a light armor build to wear different armor.

Pure Magic

9 magic

1 strength

This build focuses on the basics of a wizard, do as much damage as you can as fast as you can. At low levels this can be a rough build to sport due to low HP and low physical defense, but you will make up for it in the damage you will dish out. Many people will go down one of the other two paths until reaching level 90+ which is when this build will shine the most.

Hybrid Wizard

6 ~ 8 magic

1 strength

3 ~ 1 vitality

This build is just like the pure magic build, except you sacrifice magic so you may get higher HP. You have a bit of freedom with this build depending on how much more HP you want or if you want more magic attack. Some do not like this build because vitality only gives a wizard 10HP per point, but every little bit can help you out in any situation. This build is easier to restat out of if you want to change to pure magic at later levels.

Light Armor

6 magic

2 strength

2 dexterity

This build is increasingly popular especially in PvP servers. This build will hit the weakest but can also brag about a higher critical chance due to their points in dexterity. People choose this build primarily for the physical defense increase they get by being able to wear light armor. In doing this build your magic attack will be much lower, will have low magic defense, but you gain physical defense and critical.

Below will be all the wizard skills you will be able to learn. I will give a brief description of them, and a star rating from 1-3 stars (*-***) depending on how good the skill is. One star meaning the skill is not necessary at all, while three is the skill is amazing. As for the question of which skills should you max? The question is all of them except for a few, which I will specifically say on that skill, the order you max your skills in though is dependent upon how useful that skill is (the stars). I can't tell you everything about the skills though, the best way to learn is to experience them and practice each skill for yourself, good luck with your wizard.

Fire Skills

	Pyrogram ***
	The basic fire skill for a wizard. It is an essential skill in every wizards arsenal. A must have and should level it up whenever given a chance.

	Pyroshell *
	Barrier type buff, may only have one on at a time. Increases fire resistance and increases HP regen. The least needed out of the three barriers.

	Crown of Flame *
	A fire damage over time that does initial damage and does additional damage over 15 seconds. This spell is not worth it and is better to save your spirit and money for other spells.

	Divine Pyrogram **
	Your first hard hitting spell, will be great when first obtainable but its use will slower taper off as you get newer, higher level skills. Level it at first but stop leveling once you can get sandstorm.

	The Dragon's Breath **
	This is a constant self AoE that will hit everything around you until you turn it off yourself, run out of mp, or get stunned out of it. Great spell for leveling at 60+.

	Will of the Phoenix ***
	Very useful skill in leveling and in PvP. Has very fast casting time and a low cool down and is a small frontal AoE. Great for leveling because it also serves as a knock back, but knock back does not work in PvP.

	Emberstorm *
	This is a charging AoE type skill that sacrifices your own HP to deal more damage. The longer you charge it the more HP it takes and the more damage it does. This skill is not worth the trouble at all.

	Blade Tempest ***
	Every wizard's dream. This is a large ranged AoE that will deal physical and magical damage to all targets. This is great for killing robes and light armor because of the physical damage part of the skill.

	Fire Mastery ***
	A must have for any wizard, will increase your fire damage by 20% at level 10.

Water Skills

	Gush ***
	Most used spell for me. It have the best casting time of the starting spells and slows down your target enough so they should be easy to kite. This spell is most important to max out first and should be used nearly every other spell, unless fighting a water type mob.

	Glacial Embrace **
	The second of the three barriers, this is my favorite PvE barrier as it increases MP regeneration and then also adds water resistance.

	Hailstorm *
	This spell is not needed at lower levels and don't even have to level it to 1 to continue the water skill tree. As you reach higher levels though this can be used as an extra small AoE to do additional damage. Also used to freeze people in PvP because wizard's do not have any decent way to stop people from moving.

	Morning Dew **
	Wizard's healing spell. Can keep it at level 1 or 2 for a long time because it'll heal yourself to full HP no problem. Can get it to higher levels but it will use a lot of MP.

	Frostblade **
	The only wizard buff that can be used on another player. Gives target player who deals physical damage additional water damage. Best used on archers.

	Glacial Snare ***
	Highest damage single target skill a wizard gets. It also comes with the nice effect of slowing down target by 80%. Very useful spell in leveling and in PvP.

	Black Ice Dragon Strike ***
	This is the hardest hitting pure magic spell in the game. It is great against heavy armor and light armor users and also has an extra slowing effect if this didn't kill your target.

	Water Mastery ***
	A must have for any wizard, increases water damage by 20% at level 10.

Earth Skills

	Stone Rain ***
	The starting spell in the earth tree. This should also be maxed as all three starting spells should be. Has a longer casting time than the other two but also hits the hardest.

	Stone Barrier ***
	The best and most loved barrier out of the three. It increases earth resistance but the main reason it is used is at level 10, it will increase your physical defense by 100%. With out this skill wizard would not survive in PvP at all.

	Pitfall *
	Another damage over time spell that does small initial damage and some more overtime. Is not very useful unless kept at level 1 and is used as a finisher spell and takes very little MP.

	Sandstorm ***
	The favored second tier spell that does great damage and has a low cool down. Replaces divine pyrogram as you level and also decreases accuracy of target.

	Force of Will **
	This skill will be your life saver. Best left at level 1 until later levels when you can max it out at level 10. This skill is a ranged seal, which will prevent target from attacking but will still be able to move freely.

File:Mountain.jpg	Mountain Seize ***
	Amazing skill but also has the longest channeling time of all skills. A whopping 5 seconds to channel but once leveled to 10 it will stun for 6 seconds and has a huge AoE. Preferred to level Blade Tempest and Black Ice Dragon Strike before this one.

	Earth Mastery ***
	Must have for every wizard, gives 20% more earth damage at level 10.

Misc Skills

	Distance Shrink ***
	One of my favorite parts of a wizard. This spell will instantly move you up to 25 meters at level 10 at the cost at a small amount of chi. Very good for chasing people or running away.

	Wellspring Quaff **
	Increases your maximum MP pool. Is not necessary but need to get level 5 for another spell.

	Essential Sutra ***
	This is a very important spell to have for every wizard. Gives you 0 channel time on all spells for 6 seconds. This will give you the chance to throw 3-5 spells at your target in a matter of seconds. Very powerful.

	Undine Strike ***
	This spell you must collect 20 apocalypse pages to learn but it is very worth it. With a 1 second cool down it lowers a targets fire, water and earth reistances by 60% for 12 seconds. It will on average increase your damage on a target by 20~25% per spell.

	Soporific Whisper ***
	This spell also needs 20 apocalypse pages to learn but is also worth the cost. This spell has a 2 minute cool down, and will instantly put your target to sleep for 4 seconds. It is the only for sure way of stopping your target from moving for a wizard.

	Elemental Shell *
	The third and final spell obtained through 20 apocalypse pages. This one is not needed at all as it increases your magic defenses by a huge amount but only for 4 seconds. You should have enough magic defense anyways.

	Elemental Invocation *
	This skill can only be obtained at level 100 and with 20 chrono pages. As I have not actually gotten this skill I can't say much about it other than it has a 10 minute cool down, so does not look very pleasing.

	Manifest Virtue **
	The second skill that is learned at level 100 and 20 chrono pages. This skill will raise your magic attack based on your max MP. At level 100 you should have around 15k MP buffed and it takes one spark to use. It seems good but it only lasts 30 seconds with a cool down of 5 minutes, not that worth it.

	Spark ***
	At level 29 you get your first spark eruption, and at level 59 you can learn the second spark eruption. At level 89 you choose between the path of sage or demon and they both get a different type of spark eruption. Sage will get celestial eruption which reduces damage taken by 25%, and demon has demonic eruption that reduces channeling speed by 25%.

Playing Tips

PvE: Leveling as a mage is probably the second easiest, after venomancer. Two recommended skills to start out with are gush or glacial snare if you are a high enough level. If the mob is melee you might have to use Will of the Phoenix to knock it back if it comes too close. If it is a ranged mob, Force of Will is more appropriate as it can cause an enemy to flee before it approaches close enough to attack you. Try to use gush on every other spell to ensure mobs are slowed at all times so they don't reach you as fast. Try to grind on air or water mobs as they give bonus experience. Also if you can get a guild with similar levels and try to form grinding parties. A full party of 6 can gain exp many times faster than solo.

PvP: In solo PvP you will have a hard time against most classes. You are a fragile class even with light armor and unless you have very good gear, there is not much you can do against most classes who have stuns and ways of stopping your movement. The best thing you can do against any class though is to distance shrink around and don't use force of will at the very start. Save your force of will for after your charm ticks so it gives it time to tick again.

In group PvP wizard will be a much larger threat. If left alone, you have the power to take down any class. Because of this though, you will have people chasing you and targeting you first. Try to stay behind your party and aim for any blademasters or werebeasts who charge through the lines. Don't wait to use your force of will to only save yourself, look at your surroundings and if someone is in trouble use it to save them. It could come back and they will save you later. In PvP I'd recommend to not use the level 59 ultimates often, because it is rare to find people bunched up when everyone is in the air. Instead, look for one hard to kill target and use essential sutra to kill them. Its better to take out one hard target than to hurt a few people.

Territory War: My favorite part about being a wizard. This is where we shine the most because there are so many people around and it means there is much less attention directed towards you. Try to build spark safely and don't run out to the front and get picked off by archers. Whenever you have the spark needed to drop an ultimate, look for a group of people and unleash the fury that makes a wizard fun. If you do begin to get targeted, distance shrink backwards so they can no longer hit you. If you want to see how I play in TW or PvP, feel free to check out my videos below.

Here is a TW video

This has some TW and some PK

Final Thoughts

In by no means what I say is final word in anything. Everyone has different opinions in skills and builds. What this guide is meant for is to try and take an unbiased approach to all things wizard, because it is a flexible and complicated class. Once learned though, I believe wizard to be one of the funnest, and strongest to play.