Comprehensive Wizard Guide

This is a guide, tutorial, or gameplay strategy written by one or more players to better assist others with their gameplay enjoyment. The information presented here may be subject to the personal opinion of the contributor(s), and may additionally require periodic updates to keep current as the game environment changes.

Title: Comprehensive Wizard Guide

Author: Various

Date Published: 2018-02-09

Updated: 2021-10-14

Comprehensive Wizard Guide Type Elemental Pure Spell Circles Minor Elemental Major Elemental Wizard Base Prime Requisites Aura, Logic Mana Statistics Aura

Physical Skills Skill Cost Ranks Two Weapon Combat 12 / 12 1 Armor Use 14 / 0 1 Shield Use 13 / 0 1 Combat Maneuvers 12 / 8 1 Edged Weapons 6 / 1 1 Blunt Weapons 6 / 1 1 Two-Handed Weapons 14 / 3 1 Ranged Weapons 14 / 3 1 Thrown Weapons 8 / 2 1 Polearm Weapons 14 / 3 1 Brawling 10 / 2 1 Ambush 15 / 10 1 Multi Opponent Combat 15 / 10 1 Physical Fitness 8 / 0 1 Dodging 20 / 20 1

Magical Skills Skill Cost Ranks Arcane Symbols 0 / 2 2 Magic Item Use 0 / 1 2 Spell Aiming 2 / 1 2 Harness Power 0 / 4 3 Elemental Mana Control 0 / 3 2 Mental Mana Control 0 / 15 1 Spirit Mana Control 0 / 15 1 Spell Research 0 / 8 3 Elemental Lore 0 / 6 2 Spiritual Lore 0 / 20 1 Sorcerous Lore 0 / 10 1 Mental Lore 0 / 20 1

General Skills Skill Cost Ranks Survival 3 / 2 1 Disarming Traps 2 / 6 1 Picking Locks 2 / 4 2 Stalking and Hiding 5 / 4 1 Perception 0 / 3 2 Climbing 4 / 0 1 Swimming 3 / 0 1 First Aid 2 / 1 2 Trading 0 / 3 2 Pickpocketing 3 / 3 1

This article is about the Wizard profession. For the front end, see Wizard (front end).

About the Guide

The basis for this guide was originally created by Whirlin, using information gathered by the community, and then reformatted and updated by Kithus. It has been expanded upon by members of the Gemstone community from discussions via various forums, Discord chats and direct player input on GSWiki. Any and all contributions from the community are welcome!
Last Updated: 8/1/2020

Race and Stat Considerations

Racial Bonus To Starting Statistics (Sortable Table)

Race	Strength	Constitution	Dexterity	Agility	Discipline	Aura	Logic	Intuition	Wisdom	Influence	Total
Aelotoi	-5	0	5	10	5	0	5	5	0	-5	+20
Burghal gnome	-15	10	10	10	-5	5	10	5	0	-5	+25
Dark elf	0	-5	10	5	-10	10	0	5	5	-5	+15
Dwarf	10	15	0	-5	10	-10	5	0	0	-10	+15
Elf	0	0	5	15	-15	5	0	0	0	10	+20
Erithian	-5	10	0	0	5	0	5	0	0	10	+25
Forest gnome	-10	10	5	10	5	0	5	0	5	-5	+25
Giantman	15	10	-5	-5	0	-5	-5	0	0	5	+10
Half elf	0	0	5	10	-5	0	0	0	0	5	+15
Half krolvin	10	10	0	5	0	0	-10	0	-5	-5	+5
Halfling	-15	10	15	10	-5	-5	5	10	0	-5	+20
Human	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	5	0	0	+15
Sylvankind	0	0	10	5	-5	5	0	0	0	0	+15

STR is Melee AS and Ranged RT.
DEX is spell bolts and Ranged AS and Melee RT.
AGI is also a factor in Melee RT.
Aura is Elemental CS.

Benefits of Dexterity

A Ranged attack or Bolt spells uses Dexterity as an AS mod, but it is much more than that.
Most people do not realize that TRUNC(DEX Bonus/4) is added as phantom damage to attacks, when no crit weighting is present. When calculating damage you take the damage factor, multiply by the endroll in excess of 100, and, depending on the damage versus the armor type, you get crits that provide extra damage. However, between those two steps, there is one additional calculation. Your DEX Bonus/4, rounded down is added as "phantom damage" when calculating what rank crit you get. This occurs in all AS based attacks, including melee, ranged, and spells.

• Please note: The DEX BONUS/4 is still commonly accepted as true, but there do appear to be abnormalities that don't make it uniformly applied. This is still being tested to determine any potential limits.

As an example of how this is applied we can take a simple cast of 901:

We all know 901 has a terrible DF. However, if a halfling with maxed DEX casts it, with their +40 DEX bonus, they get 10 phantom damage right off the bat. If they do adequate damage to obtain a Tier 1 crit, it will receive +10 phantom damage when calculating the crit. Since a substantial margin of the damage from 901 is based on the crit tier, this could significantly increase the damage.

When it comes to racial selection this means Halflings are potentially the best race to select for bolting. At least from a purely offensive point of view. With the second highest max DEX bonus, Dark Elves have a DEX bonus at +35 at 100, but since phantom damage is rounded down, they max at only +8 phantom damage, while halflings get +10 phantom Damage from their +40 max bonus.

Here's a wonderful example that Riltus provided, with a breakdown of the damage.
>You gesture at a dark orc.
You hurl a small surge of electricity at a dark orc!
AS: +212 vs DS: +39 with AvD: +22 + d100 roll: +68 = +263
... and hit for 49 points of damage!
Heavy jolt to chest causes solar plexus to explode. Remarkable display of spraying blood.
Rank 5 Crit w/25 damage
Wizard with 20 air lore and 34 Dex bonus (8 pts. crit weighting)
901 DF: 0.133
Lore DF bonus: 0.012
Effective DF: 0.145
Endroll success margin: 163
Raw damage: 23.6 rounds up to 24
Armor: double leather w/ 6 crit divisor
Calc max crit w/o weighting: 24/6 = 4
Observed Crit damage: 25 (R5 chest)
Observed Crit: rank 5
Minimum Crit weighting for a rank 5 outcome: 6 pts. [(24 + 6)/6 = rank 5 crit]

Without phantom damage, the maximum crit outcome would have been a tier 4 crit (only 20 damage), so that additional phantom damage for the crit roll ended up being an additional 5 real damage.

Melee Warmages

Melee Warmages are mainly concerned about strength. They need all the AS they can get relative to the other classes before the AS slowdown. AgiDex is less of a concern because, from an RT perspective if you are doing most melee builds, you should be able to swing anything in 6 seconds with any race. That is the RT needed to hit 1 second eventually. If your stats are placed for growth, and you are using a lance, AgiDex might be a concern in a few cases. In that case just make sure you math it out before you get started, or swap to a faster polearm.

The strongest races are: Giantman: +15 STR, but bolting suffers with a -5 DEX and CS takes a hit with a -5 Aura. They do have a nice CON bonus at +10 and the best encumbrance factor of all races.
Half-Krol: +10 STR, with no bonus or penalty on DEX or AURA. They share the same +10 CON bonus as Giantmen, as well as a high encumbrance factor.
Dwarf: +10 STR, no DEX penalties but -5 to AGI and bad Aura at -10. They have the highest CON bonus at +15.
Human: Only +5 STR, no modifiers to DEX, AGI or AURA. Humans are the middle of the road race.

It should be noted that these THW warmages races outlined above tend to be weak in DEX and Aura if you decide to swap builds after the AS slowdown. So you would find it very difficult to swap from a Racially maximized THW Warmage to a Pure or Ranged Warmage.

As a warmage, AS is important but reaching 1sec RT is top priority. You want to come out the gates swinging your target weapon at 5sec RT. If you build your warmage with using this starting rule, you'll save yourself a boat load of TPs in the long run. Lets take a Claidhmore as an example since Two Handed Weapons are a popular weapon choice for warmages. The base round time on a claidhmore is 8 seconds (https://gswiki.play.net/Claidhmore).

If we refer to the Two Handed Weapon round time table from the Celerity (506) wiki page https://gswiki.play.net/Celerity_(506) , you'll see that a 6 second base round time for swinging a claidhmore will require 80 ranks of air lore as oppose to a 5 second base swinging round time would only take 58 ranks. That is a difference of 528 physical TPs to get to one second swinging round time. As a warmage your AS is going to be low, the power comes from the 1 second round time swings and disabling your opponent with stomp evoked 909. An AGI + DEX bonus of 53+ will ensure your character swings any weapon at 5sec rt

Two-Handed Weapons

	Base Weapon Speed
Current RT	9	8	7	6	5
9	154	146	130	122	106
8	131	124	110	103	89
7	108	102	90	84	72
6	85	80	70	65	55
5	62	58	50	46	38
4	39	36	30	27	21
3	16	14	10	8	4

The best races that achieve the AGI + DEX bonus of 53+ are elves of any sort. Strength is secondary to AGI and DEX since it's directly connected to AS.

You training goals for a warmage should be as follows:
Primary Goals

Minor Elemental: - 1x until 75 (This is for the AS boost that 425 offers)
Major Elemental: - 1x until 50 (You can skip a few tanks but you obviously want 506 and 509 ASAP)
Wizard - As able (You want 909 ASAP but after that you can take your time. The 900 circle is the best circle for a wizard to gain DS.)
Weapon skill - 1x
Physical Fitness - 1x
Perception - 1x
Harness power - 1x
Spell aim - 2x (It's always good to have an alternative attack method)
Air lore - as much as possible until you can 1 sec swing your goal weapon. (Do not neglect the other primary skills to achieve this)

Secondary Goals

Can you swing your choice weapon with 1 sec RT? no? then why are you looking here?!
Combat Maneuvers - whatever you can spare. (Every 2 ranks is +1 AS. the Cman skill of choice is feint followed by disarm.)
Magic item use
Arcane Symbols
Elemental Mana Control - I stopped at 30 ranks
Armor use
Whatever else you want.

This section was edited by Alsal on 08/01/2019

Ranged Warmage

Ranged Warmages primarily need 1 thing, Dexterity. Even a halfling with -15 STR mod can get to a STR bonus of +5 and fire an aimed longbow in 1 second. The following highlights strength mods because it can be a factor at lower levels and in the case that you decide to switch builds:

Halflings: The winning race with +15 DEX, but a woeful -15 STR and -5 Aura
Dark Elf: +10 DEX, 0 STR, and +10 Aura
Sylvan: +10 DEX, 0 STR and +5 Aura.
Burger Gnome: +10 Dex, with the same -15 STR as a halfling, but a +5 Aura
Elves: +5 DEX, 0 STR, and +5 Aura.
Half Elves: +5 Dex, 0 STR, 0 Aura.
Aelotoi: +5 DEX and 0 Aura like Half-Elves, but with -5 Strength.
Forest Gnomes: +5 DEX, -10 Strength, and 0 Aura.

Pure Builds

The emphasis here is on Aura, as our CS mod, because we already highlighted DEX in the Ranged section:
Dark Elves: +10 Aura, along with their +10 DEX
Burghal Gnomes: +5 AURA, also with +10 DEX
Elves: +5 AURA as well but only +5 DEX
Sylvan: +5 AURA too and with +10 DEX

Other Racial Factors

Bear in mind that there are many other mechanical factors to consider when selecting a race. Not to mention all the role playing decisions. The weaker races, such as halflings and gnomes, tend to have much better maneuver defense than bigger, stronger races. As a trade off they also tend to have terrible encumbrance, while bigger races are able to carry quite a bit more. Elven races have bonuses to resisting disease and a small one to poison, but are slightly weaker against warding spells. Dwarves are less resistant to disease but also resistant to poison and have a bonus to warding off elemental magic. Halflings are slightly more resistant to poison, disease, and elemental magic than dwarves. Half-krolvin have natural heavy crit padding against cold attacks and suffer less from cold weather effects.

The races of Elanthia all have their pros and cons. They are well balanced and any one could make an excellent wizard. Take into account the full picture, including mechanics and their cultural backgrounds, before you decide on a race for yours. Then you can likely pick a halfling anyway because that DEX!

Skills

Physical Skills

• Armor Use Reduces swinging RT, maneuver penalties, and spell hindrance from wearing armor.
• Shield Use Generates DS when using a shield.
• Weapons Use Raises AS with a particular Weapon.
• Two Weapon Combat Ability to use two one-handed weapons. It is prohibitively expensive for a wizard to train in.
• Combat Maneuvers +.5 Melee AS per rank. 1 CM Point per rank to use towards the limited list of combat maneuvers available to wizards!
• Multi-Opponent Combat Reduces Force-on-Force penalties for multiple opponents and adds 1 to the minimum ball-spell area effect per rank.
• Ambush Ability to aim physical attacks. Improves ranged AS by .25 for every rank over 40.
• Physical Fitness HP total, stamina, factors into Maneuver defense
• Dodge Adds to evade DS but is prohibitively expensive for wizards.

Magical Skills

• Arcane Symbols Ability to use scrolls, each rank improves duration. Also assists with Enchanting.
• Magic Item Use Ability to use magic items such as wands, small statues and other imbeds, each rank improves duration. Also assists with Enchanting.
• Harness Power +3 Mana per rank up to your level, +1 mana per rank over level.
• Spell Aiming Adds to bolt AS in the same way weapons training adds to a physical AS.
• Mana Control: Allows sharing of mana with others, based on your skill in a specific mana control and theirs. Also improves your mana regeneration rate.
• Spell Research Learn spells, improve effectiveness and duration.
• Elemental Lore: Various effects and improvements to specific elemental spells. Other lores do not effect your native spells.

Elemental Lores

The Elemental Lore Review offered a variety of new synergies between spells, and introduced a lot more than just DF bonuses on bolt spells. The list below gives a general overview of which spells each lore effects and a general idea of how. A more complete overview can be found in the Lore Chart.

Important Breakpoints

• 50 ranks in any lore gives the greatest Bolt DF benefit before diminishing returns on spells of that element, or .050 DF.
• 100 combined ranks provide the greatest Bolt DF benefit before diminishing returns on dual element spells, or .050 DF.
• 20 ranks in any lore gives the 518 specialization for that lore and 10 ranks each of two lores provides the specialization for dual lore specializations
• Arcane Circle spell EVOKES and Tonis Bolt:
  • 20 Fire for 903 -> 1707
  • 20 Air for Tonis Bolt
  • 30 Water for 904 -> 1710
• 55 or 60 air lore provides the majority of RT reduction from Celerity for a warmage
• Stone Fist Earth Lore at .5x for SLAP, 1.25x for CLENCH, and 2x for POUND

Elemental Lore, Fire

• 413: Increases TD penalty by Seed 5 summation.
• 415: Chance equal to Elemental Lore, Fire ranks/2 to strike an additional target in the room for 5 additional mana.
• 417: 10 ranks unlocks a defensive spell from the target. The chance is 10% +3% per every 10 ranks. The mana drain is increased by skill/15.
• 425: A percentage chance on a Seed 10 scale to increase the critical weighting of your next spell cast within 10 seconds.
• 502: Fire Version - Provides a DS pushdown against fire spells equal to 2 * Seed 1 for 15 seconds, up to 2 attacks.
• 513: Casting multiple bolts at the same target will increase AS by Seed 4 stacking up to +25 maximum.
• 518: 20 ranks unlocks Fire specification which uses Minor Fire's damage tables and lore bonuses. 10 ranks of Fire AND Water unlock Steam.
• 519: Increases critical damage and damage cycles.
• 903: 20 ranks unlocks Minor Steam using EVOKE with this spell.
• 906: Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that.
• 908: Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that. Adds to the potential number of splash targets.
• 917: Ranks/5% chance to do an additional strike with the fire version.
• 950: Increases AS of spells cast with 950 by 6 * Seed 10 summation and CS by 3/5 that amount.
• 1707 Increases DF by .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that.

Understanding the Bonuses behind Elemental Lore, Fire

The only major discreet breakpoint for fire lore is 20 ranks for EVOKE on Minor Water for Minor Steam, the best damage to mana ratio bolt spell. The other important bonuses are scaling.

519 bonuses are two fold:

• Chance of incineration on warding margins 50 or higher = Seed 1 summation (Fire Lore ranks -10)/2
• And Ranks / 1.5 % chance of an extra damage cycle. (100% at 150 ranks)

The 513 AS bonus maxes out at +25. This makes some seed values appear more beneficial than others. Because going from +5 AS per bolt to +6 AS per bolt will still require 5 bolts to max out the benefit of +25 AS that +1 AS might be less substantial. The number of bolts needed to cap the bonus is below:

• +1 per bolt: 25 casts to cap
• +2 per bolt: 13 casts to cap
• +3 per bolt: 9 bolts to cap
• +4 per bolt: 7 bolts to cap
• +5 per bolt: 5 bolts to cap
• +6 per bolt: 5 bolts to cap
• +7 per bolt: 4 bolts to cap
• +9 per bolt: 3 bolts to cap
• +13 per bolt: 2 bolts to cap
• Benefit maxes at +19, always 2 bolts to cap the benefit.
• This mechanic of the +25 max, paired with a Summation Seed 4 for benefit ends up producing two forms of diminishing returns. The difference between 72 ranks of fire lore for +9 per bolt (3 to cap), and 130 ranks for +13 per bolt (2 to cap) is substantial.

Elemental Lore, Air

• 402: Gives a chance to point out hidden targets based on ranks in Elemental Lore, Air versus the targets hide ranks.
• 405: At 30 ranks can detect elemental flares and if an item is enhancive (but not what it enhances)
• 410: 50 ranks unlocks a SPHERE version of the spell which can hit flying targets.
• 435: 50 ranks unlocks a SPHERE version of the spell which can hit flying targets.
• 502: Air/Lightning version - Provides a DS pushdown against air/lightning spells equal to 2 * Seed 1 for 15 seconds, up to 2 attacks.
• 504: Increases RT penalty by 1 at 24, 100, and 100 ranks. Increases possible targets by 1 per 20 ranks.
• 505: 20 ranks unlocks Tonis Bolt using EVOKE. Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.
• 506: 50 ranks unlocks a group version with EVOKE. Decreases the stamina cost of combat actions and improves RT reduction of utility actions.
• 511: Increases maximum items by Seed 10 summation.
• 515: Gives a percentage chance to provide a CHANNEL bonus to a spell without additional RT equal to Seed 1 summation.
• 518: 20 ranks unlocks Air specialization, which uses vacuum crits. 10 Air AND Water ranks unlocks Lightning specialization.
• 535: -1% RT for every 5 ranks, max of 60%.
• 550: Increases the amount of RT removed from negative effects by 1.5 * Seed 1 summation.
• 901: Combined Air and Water lore increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.
• 910: Combined Air and Water lore increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.
• 911: Adds phantom Dodge ranks on a Seed 1 summation.
• 912: Adds a 2% chance per Seed 5 summation to produce a vortex which causes RT for a random, ungrouped target at a regular interval.
• 914: Reduces the summoning time and increases critical damage.
• 916: 50 ranks unlocks a group version that lasts for 2 minutes using EVOKE.
• 920: Decreases the time it takes a familiar to find a player-character.
• 950: Allows a chance to gain offensive CHANNEL benefits to the spells cast without the RT with a percentage chance equal to 5 * Seed 1 Summation.

Understanding the Bonuses behind Elemental Lore, Air

Arguably the greatest benefit to training air lore is Tonis Bolt at 20 ranks or the -1% RT from Celerity per 5 ranks, depending on your build.

Celerity Breakpoints:

• Base 4 RT becomes 1 at 60 ranks
• Base 5 RT becomes 1 at 105 ranks
• Base 6 RT becomes 2 at 55 Ranks, 1 at 135 Ranks
• Base 7 RT becomes 3 at 20 Ranks, 2 at 90 Ranks, 1 at 160 ranks
• Base 8 RT becomes 3 at 55 ranks, 3 at 115 ranks, and 1 at 180 ranks

After either 55 or 60 ranks in Air Lore, you receive a majority of the RT reduction bonuses. You also unlock all the major breakpoints for air lore: Tonis Bolt Group Casting 506 410/435 Sphere Flare detection on 405

Elemental Lore, Water

• 403: Removes 1 point per Seed 10 summation of potential damage to a lockpick on a failed attempt.
• 404: Reduces DISARM roundtime by 1 second per Seed 6 summation.
• 407: Unsuccessful casts will corrode a lock, reducing the difficulty by 1 per Seed 1 summation. Stacks up to 10% of the original difficulty.
• 408: Unsuccessful casts will corrode a trap, reducing the difficulty by 1 per Seed 1 summation. Stacks up to 10% of the original difficulty.
• 410: Reduces targets maneuver defense against the spell.
• 416: Grants a percentage chance equal to Skill/4 to show Unlock and Disarm success messenging.
• 418: Provides a +10 mana regeneration bonus for the caster. This bonus will last a number of pulses equal to a Seed 10 summation.
• 435: Reduces targets maneuver defense against the spell.
• 502: Water/Cold/Lightning version - Provides a DS pushdown against water/cold/lightning spells equal to 2 * Seed 1 for 15 seconds, up to 2 attacks.
• 512: Increases targets by 1 per Seed 5 summation. Shatter chance on fully encased targets equal to Skill Bonus/3. Converts Minor water cast at target to Minor Cold for Seed 10 summation casts.
• 515: Percentage chance to negate the cooldown when the spell ends equal to Seed 1 summation.
• 516: Percentage chance equal to Seed 2 summation to drain an additional 20 mana.
• 518: 20 ranks to unlock cold specialization, which uses Minor Cold damage tables and lore bonuses and water specialization, which uses Minor water. 10 ranks + 10 Fire/Earth/Air unlocks Steam/Acid/Lightning.
• 520: Water mode dispel cooldown reduced by Seed 1 summation seconds.
• 550: 50 ranks unlocks an automatic Elemental Wave cast for free alongside Time Stop.
• 901: Combined Air and Water lore increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that. Increases the duration of Stun Shock by 1 second per Seed 10 summation.
• 903: Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that. Increases the chance to soak a target by skill/2%.
• 904: 30 ranks unlocks Major Acid with EVOKE. Combined Earth and Water lore increases DF by .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.
• 907: Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that. Adds to the potential number of splash targets.
• 910: Combined Air and Water lore increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that. Increases the duration of Stun Shock by 1 second per Seed 10 summation.
• 917: Ranks/5% chance to do an additional strike with the cold version.
• 920: 50 ranks unlocks the ability to set an anchor on an earthnode.
• 1707: Combined Fire and Water lore increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.
• 1709: Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that.
• 1710: Combined Earth and Water lore increases DF by .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.

Understanding the Bonuses behind Elemental Lore, Water

Water lore has very little in the way of discreet breakpoints. 30 ranks will allow the use of Major Acid with 904 and 50 ranks will provide the ability to set an anchor for your familiar and have an automatic Elemental Wave when you cast Time Stop. While interesting these benefits are not build defining.

The largest benefit of water lore is its diversity. Water lore provides bonuses to the DFs for a startling number of bolts. This includes 901, 903, 904, 907, 910, 1707, 1709, and 1710. It also lends itself to a variety of modes for 518. This combines with the utility aspects to make water lore an interesting lore for a generalist wizard.

Elemental Lore, Earth

• 412: Increases max targets of the open version by 1 per 20 ranks.
• 414: 25 ranks unlocks a 5% + 1% per 20 additional ranks chance to block a single AS/DS attack when wearing all three elemental defenses.
• 430: Gives a percentage chance equal to Seed 10 summation to gain +10 critical padding for a single attack.
• 502: Earth version - Provides a DS pushdown against impact spells equal to 2 * Seed 1 for 15 seconds, up to 2 attacks.
• 503: Gives a percentage chance equal to Seed 10 summation to gain +20 DS against an attack.
• 507: 15 ranks unlocks bolt redirection ability with a chance of 5% + 1% / 10 additional ranks. Redirected bolts strike at a random enemy target with a -20 AS penalty.
• 508: 25 ranks unlocks a 5% + 1% per additional 10 ranks chance to increase TD by 20 against a single warding spell.
• 509: Provides a self-cast additional AS bonus equal to Seed 4 summation.
• 510: Increases DF by .001/rank up to 50 ranks, .001 per 2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001 per 4 ranks beyond that.
• 514: Unlocks additional commands at training breakpoints: SLAP - .5x, CLENCH - 1.25x, POUND - 2x.
• 518: 20 ranks to unlock earth specialization, which uses Hurl Boulder damage and lore benefits. 10 ranks + 10 water lore ranks to unlock acid specialization.
• 520: Earth mode stun shield provides additional padding ranks equal to a Seed 3 summation.
• 550: Increases uses per day by 1 at 40, 115, and 190 ranks.
• 902: Increases the enhancive weapon skill bonus by 1 per Seed 7 summation.
• 904: 10 ranks unlocks an acid burn ability at a rate of 25 + truncated(Skill Bonus/4)%. Combined Earth and Water lore increases DF by .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that.
• 905: Provides an additional 1 DS per Seed 5 summation.
• 909: Increases the E/B/P penalty by 1 per Seed 4 summation / 2. Increases charges of the EVOKE version by 1 at 20, 50, 90, 150, and 200 ranks.
• 914: Increases critical damage.
• 917: Gives a percentage of the damage bonus provided by a stunned/prone target to all cycles after the initial strike equal to (100 * Ranks / 202)%.
• 1710: Combined Earth and Water lore increases DF by .001/2 ranks up to 100 ranks and .001/4 ranks beyond that. Adds to the potential number of splash targets.

Understanding the Bonuses behind Elemental Lore, Earth

Earth lore has a few important discreet breakpoints to consider. One is the additional charges on the evoked version of Tremors at 20, 50, 90, 150, and 200 ranks. Another is the added uses per day of Time Stop at 40, 115, and 190 ranks respectively. Finally there is the acid burn effect on Minor Acid which turns on at 10 ranks and improves from there.

With that in mind 50 ranks will net you: +2 charges of EVOKE 909 +1 daily use of 550 62% chance of acid burn on 904 25% of the stunned/prone bonus on 917

The major outlier here is Stone Fist. Only a dedicated earth mage will get to make any real use of the additional commands that hold most of this spells power. At 50 ranks you would be able to reasonably use SLAP but the spell likely is not worth using without at least CLENCH, if not POUND.

Runes

Wizards have access to learning three runes:

• After learning 930, a wizard can learn the "Gate" Rune. Applying this on a runestone and holding the runestone while you cast decreases failure chances.
• A wizard who knows it can teach another the "Binding" Rune. This will allow the wizard to trap their familiar type in an amulet that can be purchase from the wizard guild. Holding this when casting 920 guarantees that type of critter. (i.e. cats)
• The Wy'Zio is used to unlearn unique runes. Which currently means nothing to wizards.

Training

This is broken down into Core Training, and Discrete Training.

• Core training includes skills you train in a certain amount each level for that build.
• Discrete Training includes skills that you want to hit a breakpoint on.

Common Core Training

Core training for ANY wizard:

• 2x Spell Research: As a pure you should, at minimum, be training 2 spell ranks per level. (0/24)
• 1x-1 Harness Power: Harness power, at level, provides 3 mana per training (0/4)
• 1x Elemental Mana Control: Mana regeneration, Multi-cast, Spellup, and benefits to many spells. (0/3)
• 1x Physical Fitness: Combat Maneuvers Defense and health (8/0)
• 1x Perception: Maneuver defense, getting around. (0/3)
  • Total of 8/35 TP

Common Discrete Training

Armor Use

• 2 Ranks will train off maneuver penalties for Full Leather (Previously thought to be 4 ranks until July 2020 and GM Naijin release of Armor equation)
• 15 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Double Leathers.
• 35 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Cuirbouilli Leathers.

Climbing 50 Ranks will let you climb anywhere.
Swimming 50 Ranks will let you swim anywhere.

The Archer Mage

Why Archery?

Wizards main attack are magical bolts. This puts a high emphasis on Dexterity. Archery offers an alternative method for attack that relies on the same Dexterity bonus. It also offers a cost-effective way to max out your weapon enchant bonus and is not largely impacted by encumbrance. With Celerity you can easily produce a hail of arrows.

The strength of the build is maximization of all enhancive spells. Strength applies towards RT reduction alongside Celerity. Due to these spells it is quite easy to hit a 1 second RT with a longbow, while aiming. Furthermore, the focus on Dexterity allows an Archer Mage can make full use of classic Wizard Bolt Spells as well. Having two viable attack options opens up a lot of potential creatures to hunt.

In addition Disarm Enhancement provides a pseudo-bonus to Perception when it comes to AIMing ranged attacks. Even if Wizards are not the best aimers, 404 is easy to stack up with 515, and every little bit helps.

Training for Archery

Core

• 2x Spell Research(0/24)
• 1x Harness Power(0/4)
• 1x Elemental Mana Control (0/3)
• 1x Physical Fitness(8/0)
• 1x Perception(0/3)
  • Total of 8/35 TP

Additional

• 1x Ranged Weapons (14/3)
• +1x Perception (2x total) (0/6)
• 2x Spell Aiming (6/3)
  • +(20/12)
  • =28/46 TP

Discrete Training

• Armor Use
  • 2 Ranks will train off maneuver penalties for Full Leather (Changed from 4 Ranks July 2020)
  • 15 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Double Leathers.
  • 35 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Cuirbouilli Leathers.
• Climbing 50 Ranks will let you climb anywhere.
  
• Swimming 50 Ranks will let you swim anywhere.
• Elemental Lore, Air: 66 ranks If you're a small race, like a halfling, gnome, etc. 55 ranks if you're a race with a higher STR bonus
  

Optional Additional Core Training

• 1x-2x Magic Item Use
• 1x-2x Arcane Symbols
  
• 25 ranks of Elemental Lore, Earth for bonus AS and some defensive benefits.

Extra Training Points

Additional Spell Research is the best way to improve your stance offensive DS.

Post Cap Goals

• 3x Spell Research. More DS, more AS/CS for spells, better enchanting capabilities.
• 1x Ambushing. 100 ranks of Ambush will net you 15 AS. AS bonus = ((ranks -40)/4). This is INCREDIBLY expensive at (15/10) per rank for such a small AS boost. That is why it is not listed in core training. This will not assist aiming, as it only impacts aiming while hidden.

Spell Research Goals

• All spheres to rank 2 at level 2
• Major Elemental & Wizard until Wizard=13
• Minor Elemental & Major Elemental until Major Elemental = 20 (13 wizard, 9 minor, 20 major)
• 2x Minor Elemental until Minor Elemental = 31 (Should be level 31)
  
• From there determine your target ranks of Major Elemental and Air Lore needed to minimize RT.
  
  • 50 Ranks in MjE will unlock 550, a strong escape spell
    
  • 75 Ranks of MnE will max out AS potential from 425
    
  • Wizard Circle will generate the most DS of any three circles

Combat Suggestions

• Keep Celerity Up
• 1 Creature and plenty of mana - 505 bolt until it falls prone -> Arrows.
• 1 Creature and low on mana - Arrows
• 2 Creatures and plenty of mana - 410 -> Arrows
• 2 Creatures and low on mana -> Arrows, carefully
• >2 Creatures 410 -> 518
• Undead - 901/903/904/906 are less hassle than finding a bless.

The Two Handed Mage

1. Get a big weapon.
2. Swing a big weapon really fast.
3. Profit!
Two-Handed Mages can use Polearms or Two-Handed Weapons at the same TP cost. If you want to be a polearm mage, just make sure it is a two handed polearm.

Why a Two-Hander?

The best defense is a good offense and in Gemstone IV a good offense often comes in the form of a giant weapon. An even better offense comes in the form of a giant weapon swung with a 1 second RT. Two Handers and Polearms have the highest Damage Factors out of any weapons in the game. Paired with the speed of Celerity this can be a devastating build.

Two-Handers are a great way to level, especially early on when mana is tight. By the time your AS growth slows down you have the mana to keep Celerity going and speed yourself up. As an added benefit this build is more interested in strength so you can pick your race appropriately. No need to worry about picking up a smooth stone and being encumbered.

Training for Two-Handers

Core

• 2x Spell Research(0/24)
• 1x Harness Power(0/4)
• 1x Elemental Mana Control (0/3)
• 1x Physical Fitness(8/0)
• 1x Perception(0/3)
  • Total of 8/34 TP

Additional

• 1x Two-Handed Weapons or Polearms (14/3)
• 1x Combat Maneuvers (12/8)
  • +26/11
  • =34/46 Total

Discrete Training

• Armor Use
  • 2 Ranks will train off maneuver penalties for Full Leather (Changed from 4 Ranks July 2020)
  • 15 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Double Leathers.
  • 35 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Cuirbouilli Leathers.
• Climbing 50 Ranks will let you climb anywhere.
  
• Swimming 50 Ranks will let you swim anywhere.
• Elemental Lore, Air: Typically 55 or 60 ranks but figure out what you need to swing your chosen weapon in 1 second.

Additional Discrete Training

• Elemental Lore, Earth: You can consider getting 25 or 35 ranks to increase 902 and 509 potency.
  
• Elemental Lore, Air: Getting up to 55 ranks, if you needed less than that for the discrete training, will end up rounding advantageously for you. See the lores section for details.

Optional Additional Core Training

• 2x Spell Aiming
• 1x-2x Magic Item Use
• 1x-2x Arcane Symbols

Optional Additional Discrete Training
You could take armor up to Leather Breastplate, if not further. Warmages do not cast in combat nearly as much as Pures. The hindrance can be annoying but, overall, better AvD and crit divisor is worth it, as you are gonna be caught in offensive more.

Extra Training Points

Elemental Lore, Earth. This is really the only other way to increase AS after you've reached 75 ranks in Minor Elemental. There are huge diminishing returns after the first 25-35 ranks unfortunately.

Spell Research Goals

• Start off with 2/2/2 at level 2
• Wizard & Major Elemental until at 11/11 (Level 11) (Rank 11 yields bonuses from 503 and 507, also floating disk)
• Wizard & Minor Elemental until 13/4 (Level 13)
• 2x Minor Elemental until 25 (Level 25) You reach this a little before level 25 at full 2x spells
  

From here there are some options:

• Major Elemental to 51: If your RT without Celeity is 6 seconds, 51 ranks will produce an additional -1 RT, and take it down to 1 sec with Celerity.
• Minor Elemental up to 75 to max out the AS contribution of 425.
• If DS is an issue the wizard circle generates the most DS of any circle, at 1.25 DS per rank.

Playstyle

As 513 no longer reduces melee AS, a melee warmage has a variety of options available.

If you are attuned to air then at 25 ranks of air lore you can use a 1x weapon and e-blade it. An e-bladed weapon can take advantage of the Chromatic Circle weakness effect. Plus it is cheaper than buying a 5x flaring weapon.

Due to the low swinging AS, warmages need to utilize disablers like 505, 909, 912, or 410 as an opener to knock the critters down for the DS reduction. Since you are training in CMANs, you will also have feint and some other options available to you as an opener later on in life. If you are attuned to air (or earth with enough earth lore), and are wielding an e-bladed weapon, you can start off with a 502 before your opener to further reduce your target's DS. Beyond that you want to simply keep Celerity up and hack away at things.

Remember that you do still have a full litany of spells available to you if you while hunting. Your Bolt AS will not be bad as a Warmage, assuming you choose to train in Spell Aiming. It is viable for hunting, and is a perfect way to deal with undead in areas such as Wyneb or Maaghara in Ta'Illistim, where they are mixed in with living creatures. Just use your magic against the undead, and swing your weapon against the living.

Warmage AS Slowdown

Non-pure builds tend to slow down in the later levels. Mathematically, a warmage's AS is going to fall behind other swingers eventually. An archer or two-hander needs to train Weapon Training and either 1x CM or 2x perception. That will grant 1.5 AS per level in later levels. That is a 1 AS per level deficit compared to a semi or square who trains 1x in CM and can 2x their weapon. Warmages have two tools to assist in bridging the gap: 425 and 509. Meanwhile a ranger has Phoen's Strength. With that in mind here is a comparison between a warmage and ranger.

Since 425's potency is .5/level, that still puts a warmage at a .5 AS per level deficit compared to a ranger.

• At level 20, a warmage is 15 AS below a ranger (15 (509) -20 - 10 (606)) -15.
• At 25, a warmage actually gets ahead of a ranger (15-25-10+25) by +5 AS due to 425.
• At level 75, it is still pretty close at (75 - 15 + 10 - 50) -20 AS, but 425 potency is maxed out.
• At level 80, the warmage is behind by (80-15+10-50) -25 AS.
• New to cap, a warmage is at -45 AS compared to a ranger.

The only way to make up this disparity is through proper use of disablers. Even then, the ranger is going to have similar skills available. What they will never have is a 1 second RT to take full advantage. The warmage will probably never hit as hard but they will hit anywhere from 3 to 6 times more often.

The Pure Mage

To put this simply, you get to hurl balls of fire at your enemies and burn them to cinders. Wizards are the masters of elemental magic and bolting. When you have access to some of the most powerful spells in Elanthia why would you ever want to pick up a weapon? Wizards might have the second-to-worst melee AS in the game but their bolting AS is second to none. A well trained wizard is a magical powerhouse that can tangle with the toughest creatures in the game and come out laughing.

Training for a Pure

Core

• 2x Spell Research(0/24)
• 1x Harness Power(0/4)
• 1x Elemental Mana Control (0/3)
• 1x Physical Fitness(8/0)
• 1x Perception(0/3)
  • Total of 8/35 TP

Additional

• 2x Spell Aiming (6/3)
• 1x Magic Item Use (0/1)
• 1x Arcane Symbols (0/2)
• 1x Elemental Lore (0/6) Which type depends on your choices.
  • Additional TP cost of (6/11)
  • =14/46 Total

Discreet Training

• Armor Use
  • 2 Ranks will train off maneuver penalties for Full Leather (Changed from 4 Ranks July 2020)
  • 15 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Double Leathers.
  • 35 Ranks will train off as much spell hindrance as you can for Cuirbouilli Leathers.
• Climbing 50 Ranks will let you climb anywhere.
  
• Swimming 50 Ranks will let you swim anywhere.

Additional Optional Training for a Pure

• 2x in Magic Item Use and/or Arcane Symbols

While you do not need to be 2x in MIU and/or AS and they will not generate more runestaff DS than additional spell research would gain you, there are some good reasons to consider it. The most important is that your spells from magic items and scrolls will last a long time. The only thing more powerful than a well trained pure mage is a well trained pure mage with a ton of outside spells. Beyond that they help with some utility skills like enchanting and recharging.

• 1x Shield Use Some wizards choose to go with a shield over a runestaff for the extra defense it provides.

Extra Training Points

At low levels, returns from additional ranks of harness power are more substantial. Gaining 1 more mana when you have a max pool of 30 is proportionally much better than getting that same 1 mana when you have a pool of 300. A low level pure wizard's biggest stumbling block is the lack of mana. Arcane Blast does mitigate this somewhat, as do wands, but having more mana early is a boon. At low levels it can be worthwhile to dump additional points into Harness Power. Once you reach your 20s or 30s and find yourself comfortable with your mana total you can simply stop training in Harness Power until your level catches up to your ranks. Once that is done everything else should go into Spell Research.

Spell Research Goals

• 2/2/2 by level 2
• Wizard and Major Elemental to 13
• Major Elemental and Minor Elemental until Major Elemental 18
• All Spell Research into Minor Elemental until 430 is unlocked
• Go back to Major to train it up to = Level
• Keep Major = Level, Try to get Minor Elemental = Level
• Any additional spell ranks go into wizard circle
• 100 Major, 75-78 Minor, rest in Wizard

Channeling

Channeling Bolts

CHANNELing a bolt spell imposes a 3 second hard roundtime in exchange for a higher chance of hitting a vital area and subjects the attack to less critical randomization. The critical randomization floor is raised by 1-2 ranks (depending on the actual critical) and the chance to hit every location is the same at 7.7%.

When a bolt is CAST/EVOKEd without CHANNELing, it has a little over 16% chance to hit the eyes, head, or neck. A CHANNELed bolt has over a 30% chance. Most of those locations will also result in a critical kill for ranks as low as 5 or 6, while it will take 7+ against the chest, abdomen, or back. If it is determined to be a rank 9 critical wound, critical randomization can lower that all the way down to a rank 5 (typically non-lethal against vital spots). If the same bolt is CHANNELed for the same rank 9 critical wound, crit randomization will not lower it less than a rank 7 (typically lethal against vital spots).

The roundtime imposed by channeling cannot be reduced by haste effects.

For how unchanneled bolts are assigned location, see Unaimed Body Location Assignment (saved post).

Channeling Warding Spells

The spells Chromatic Circle (502) and Immolation (519) can gain a bonus from CHANNEL.

Channeling adds to the effective warding margin on a successful cast based on the caster's stance and number of open hands. Casters wielding two-handed weapons such as runestaves are considered to have one open hand (as long as they are not also holding another item).

STANCE	OFF	ADV	FOR	NEU	GUA
One Open Hand	+20	+16	+12	+8	+4
Two Open Hands	+40	+32	+24	+16	+8

Runestaves vs. Shields

Runestaves make the Pure builds work, but before we had them we used shields. It turns out that there are still pros and cons to using a shield over a runestaff. Shields tend to offer higher DS totals over runestaves. They also do not suffer from the possibility of being disarmed. In contrast runestaves will certainly allow you to spend more points on magical skills. Additionally you need to consider runestaff flares, which are designed purely with casters in mind.

Shield Benefits

The first thing to remember about a shield is that you will get a flat +20 DS from using a shield before anything else is factored in. When you explore the runestaff formula you will find that it takes a lot of magical ranks to make up even that 20 extra. It is also worth noting that the stance modifier for parry DS (runestaves) in offensive stance is .2, compared to .5 for block DS in that stance. What that means is that more shield DS survives stancing up and that is the stance you are most worried about being hit in. Finally, we need to remember that one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a pure is having their runestaff disarmed and shields do not have that problem.

The cost for a wizard of one rank of Shield Use is 13/0 and, considering a wizard is likely already converting PTPs to MTPs is more like 0/6.5, call it 7. That is roughly the equivalent of 2 magical skills or 1/5 of an extra spell rank. We already know the most DS per spell rank is wizard spells at 1.25 DS so 1/5 of that is .25 DS. 2 magical skills will increase your parry ranks by .2 per level, or roughly .06 DS per level in offensive stance. The block DS formula is:

[((Shields Ranks + trunc(STR Bonus / 4) + trunc(DEX Bonus / 4)) x Size Modifier x Stance Modifier) / 1.5] + 20 (Shield Bonus) + Enchant.

For ease of use we can just say our STR and DEX bonuses are 0 and using a medium shield. So 1 rank of shield use would increase our total offensive DS by .5 DS. It is also worth noting that it can be beneficial, depending on your STR and DEX bonuses, to train a single rank of Brawling to activate the parry DS formula with a shield. If you have a strength bonus of 5, with an additional 15 from 509, and a dexterity bonus of 20 that 1 rank is worth 2.2 parry DS in offensive. The best DS return you can get on your training point investment for just that single rank.

Runestaff Benefits

There is no denying that there is a positive DS benefit to using a shield over a runestaff. With that said, DS is not the only thing we care about. There are multiple other factors to consider when making the decision about how to spend our valuable training points. We care just as much about our offensive and utility capabilities.

While the cost of 1 rank of shield use is worth far less in terms of DS for a spell rank or magical skills, that is not the only thing those points are gaining you. One more spell rank might be worth roughly half of the equivalent TPs in shield rank DS but it is a spell rank. Above all else it is another spell you can cast. Beyond that it is more CS for that circle and potentially other circles. It is also increased duration on your spells from that circle. It represents other efficiency increases for spells in that circle. At some points it could represent increased AS as well. A spell rank is more than just the sum of its DS addition.

In much the same way additional magical skills have their own value. It is easy to discount 2 additional magical skills, say 1 rank each of MIU and AS as just .06 DS. What cannot be discounted is what can be done with those skills. In the example we are using that represents increased durations on spells that are used from magic items or scrolls. Those skills also factor in to other important skills such as enchanting and recharging. Depending on how they are using they could certainly provide more DS than using a shield ever would, along with AS, CS, TD, and tertiary benefits.

As we can see the greatest benefit to using a runestaff is not having to waste any of our precious training points on anything that does not directly benefit our magical skills. The other big factor is the multitude of abilities you can add to a runestaff. The most common example is runestaff flares, which offer additional power to your spells. Beyond that there are various combat scripts designed for runestaves that benefit the pure caster. Rarely will a combat script designed for a shield provide anywhere near such a benefit. These things need to be taken into consideration when choosing what to hold in your hands.

Just remember that many creatures are all too happy to knock that thing out of your hand as well.

Runestaves Formula Explained

Runestaves generate DS based on your total ranks in magical skills per level. Magical skills include:

• Spell Research
• Spell Aiming
• Mana Controls
• Harness Power
• Lores
• Arcane Symbols
• Magic Item Use

Runestaff defense uses the two-handed parry DS equation, including a flat stance adjustment, so you always get +50 DS regardless of ranks when in defensive versus offensive. Since it uses the two-handed formula, you'll get 1:1 on Enchant added to DS.

The actual formula is: ((Parry Ranks + 10 + (STR Bonus/4) + (Dex Bonus/4)) * Stance Mod * 1.5 ) + Stance Bonus + Enchant Bonus Note: Stance Modifier for Offensive is .2

You gain Parry Ranks from training more magical skills. 8 ranks of magical skills per level is the equivalent of training 1x in two-handed weapons and a typical caster is expected to have between 10 and 11 magical ranks per level when using a runestaff. Spell heavy builds will get more DS from their spells and typically are fine with anywhere from 6-8 ranks.

Example: If you're level 20, and have 160 ranks in magic skills, that's 8/level, or would yield 20 Parry Ranks. If you were level 20, and had 180 ranks in magic skills, that's 9/level, and would yield 22 Parry Ranks.

+2 ranks in parrying is quite small, especially considering the cost of those +20 magic skills could be as high as 40 MTPs, which could result in a spell rank.

2 ranks of parry would yield .6 DS in offensive, whereas 1 rank in Major Elemental would yield .75 DS, and 1 rank in Wizard would yield 1.25 DS.

Training specifically for Runestaff DS is not a recommended path.

You can find more information on the Runestaff Page

Societies

Elanthia currently has 3 Societies to choose from; The Council of Light (CoL), Voln, and Guardians of Sunfist (GoS). Each offers unique bonuses and role play opportunities.

CoL

COL is the society for people who love big numbers. The society offers very little outside of the core AS/DS benefits, but those additional benefits are pretty nice mechanically.
Sign of Staunching stops all bleeding for 1 mana.
Sign of Healing is full Health for 2 spirit.
Sign of Wracking is full mana for 5 spirit.
Sign of Darkness is a teleport back to town for 6 spirit.
The other signs offer an overall gain of 35 AS, 35 DS, 20 Ranged/Spell DS, and 15 TD.

Keeping some of these signs up costs spirit. Fortunately, CoL sign duration is 10 seconds per level. At cap that is a duration of 16 minutes, 40 seconds. Even a dark elf could stagger signs enough to regen the 3 spirit required for the AS/DS/TD signs, and still remain barely static. Although, a dark elf cannot reasonably do that before level 90, they could always just leave off one of the 3 spirit using signs. Of course, a Dark Elf could not make the same use out of Sign of Wracking, due to the slow spirit regen.

Overall CoL offers decent abilities and low upkeep costs, but spirit can be burdensome for some races.

GoS

Sunfist is an attractive option, depending on your playstyle. It provies less overall AS/DS than CoL, at only +30 max but more TD at +20. The Sigil of Major Bane also offers heavy crit weighting to all AS/DS attacks against Hated Enemites. This includes bolts and fire can be VERY effective against a warcamp full of trolls. On the defensive side, they receive -5 DS relative to CoL, but they also get Heavy Crit padding with Sigil of Major Protection.

Sigil of Power converts 50 stamina to 25 mana, which is essentially free mana when you have nothing else to do with stamina
Sigil of Escape provides protection against Stun/web/binds/etc, once per day. This is definitely going to save your life at times.
Sigil of Mending provides a +10 boost to health recovery and allows you to eat any herb in 3 seconds.
Sigil of Concentration provides a +10 boost to mana recovery per pulse.
The other major attraction of GoS is the ability to Warcamp. These self contained hunting grounds generate Grimswarm creatures of a specific race; Troll, Orc, or Giant. They can be one of many professions and have the abilities to match. Camps can be more dangerous than regular hunting grounds but they are also a place you can fry very quickly.

The downside to Sunfist is that the duration and costs of their sigils are static. You are going to be spending a large amount of mana/stamina to keep sigils up throughout a hunt and it takes some effort to keep them running. For the base AS/DS boosts, you are only looking at 10 mana/10 Stamina every 5 minutes. If you want the Sigil of Major Bane and Sigil of Major Protection for the additional +10 AS/DS and heavy weighting/padding it will cost an additional 20 mana and 25 stamina per minute. Compare that to the 6 mana and 3 spirit CoL members pay for 15 minutes of all of their AS/DS/TD signs. The sigils are a much higher mana cost but at the same time, they do not cost spirit.

Voln

Voln was recently redone. It now offers +26 AS to all critters, +39 against undead, +26 DS, and +13 TD.

Some of the intangibles can be nice for warmages, like blessing. The ability to UAC without needing a bless can be helpful to the new subset of brawling warmages. The Symbol of mana is attractive at 50 mana every 5 minutes. It is not as powerful at the top end as others but there is no downside to usage.

Symbol of dreams is nice, health/mana/spirit/stats recovery. Good to use post-death along with Symbol of Recall, which restores your spells after you die.

Additionally, Voln has a societal teleportation system where the back of their society has pocket portals to everywhere. One of which is the Rift. It is a godsend for Rift hunters.

Voln's symbols work off favor, which you accumulate through hunting undead. This is a non-issue if you are hunting undead regularly. With the symbol of blessing, warmages can fight undead, and pures can both just spellcast. Undead are typically pretty easy targets to hunt relative to other critters at like levels, so you'll find yourself hunting a lot of them.

Useful Links

• Charge Item (517) and the Charge Item (guide): Provide great information on maximizing the wizard's ability to charge magical items.
• Call Familiar (920): A familiar is an integral part of the wizarding experience. This will give you the basic background info for how to use one of the most coveted spells in Elanthia.
• Enchant (925): The resource to learn everything necessary to enchant weapons and armor.