This is for the experienced Balance wizards. How do you equip your best gear, pet, and card deck to be the most powerful supporter and Tank during the game? This can apply to what ever level you are, but i'm looking for those at level 80 who can basically choose to equip any gear, spell, and pet.
What does the Ideal Balance wizard look like?
I've heard that Wateworks gear is the best and the Avalon Crafted gear is too, and the best wand is dropped in tower of the Helephant...but with all the choices and how things change...lets hear from some balance wizards who may even stitch certain abilities that make their wizard even more powerful than the traditional equipping methods.
Currently, at level 72 i'm using Waterworks gear and the Crowns Crecent Axe of the Astrals. I personally feel like my resistance isnt that great and I don't critical hit very often. I use mastery amulets so I can vary my spells to Myth or Ice to help friends in any quest or dungeon and will augment my hits with Colossals and Gargantuan spells...But I want to be the best I can. Please comment all experienced Balance Wizards.
It's hard to create an "ideal" Balance wizard... For us, it's difficult to get good stats in all areas, but a huge part of it depends on what your play-style is and what kind of character (offensive vs. defensive) you created.
Me~ until very recently, I was a solo player (had no friends in my time-zone) and, therefore, built my sorceress to play a very defensive game. Compared to most Balance wizards, she's a tank, and can out-heal almost any Life wizard~ sure, she can't hit as hard, and her health and accuracy aren't as high, but sacrifices have to be made somewhere.
Gear: Waterworks set (hood/cape/boots of judgement), Ring of Rare Origins, Claw of the Ghost Wolf, Witch's Star Necklace, Staff of the Wildgrave or Misty Mountain Mandolin (MMM)~ I change wands, depending on who she's fighting.
Pet: ancient Starfish (with Spritely, Spell-proof, pip o'plenty).
Stats:
3839 health 420 mana 53% damage boost 35% universal resist 45% incoming heal boost (50%, with the MMM) 114 critical points (school only); 26 for all others 93 crit block across the board (170 universal with MMM) 99% power pip chance 2% armour piercing
I don't have a mastery amulet, but don't feel I need one~ obviously, I've gotten this far (Outer Yard, since that's where I maxed out) without it and, since I don't PvP, it doesn't really make sense for me to own one.
I also tried crafting the Avalon gear in Dun Dara, but stopped as soon as I realized that I'd be giving up all of my universal resist for only slightly-higher crit block.
Deck setup; the key is to keep your deck small, and rely on spells other than Judgement. This is my standard mob/boss deck:
3 Power Nova 3 Colossal 2 Amplify 2 Balanceblade 1 Availing Hands 1 Reshuffle
Optional: Bladestorm, extra Hands or 'Shuffle. Sideboard: Amulet Balanceblade/Hex and 4 Super Torment (wand strikes).
Because the amulet blade stacks with my trained one and Bladestorm, it's a pretty-deadly combo. Throw in Amp, along with a lucky critical, and that Power Nova's doing 5000+ damage~ compared to the other schools' attack power, that's nothing, but it's a big hit for a Balance wizard.
Also worth noting: if you want accuracy, expect all of your other stats to suffer. By the time we hit level 50, even Storm's accuracy is higher than ours~ as much as I'd love to never fizzle, I'm not willing to give up all of my other stats to get there.
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If I'm playing in a team or versus a cheating boss, my deck will change to suit the needs of that specific scenario. I've been the healer, the tank, the healer AND the tank... and was once the designated heavy-hitter on a Mirror Lake run, which was just as much a shock to me as anyone else. Against Balance bosses (Luska Charmbeak in Waterworks, most notably), I take one of the middle spots and heal, donate pips, stack blades, and shield my teammates.
Hope this helps, & good luck!
-"El Veeb"/Laura Shadowsong the Archmage of Awesomeness ;)
