I am playing my first wizard and have noticed that there is a lot of resistance on the gear above level 80. However, it seems that most gear makes you choose between either resistance or block. I would like to know which is more valuable. I am aware that a critical will always do double damage if it lands. Yet, even when that critical lands there is still mitigation because of resistance. Is it more ideal to have a high overall resistance and lower block, understanding that you will mitigate the hit, or is it better to have a high block and mediocre resistance? I cannot find a combination of gear that yields an even balance for both. Please weight these factors before you respond:
1) Critical = Double Damage Always 2) Resistance Activates on any incoming damage (obviously for the school being resisted) 3) Critical casts are uncommon as a rule 4) Block is a percent chance to negate an event which is uncommon
Actually, block comes chiefly from your wand (which has no resist) and your boots, preferably crafted, which has resist. Usually, the main choice is between damage/critical and block/resist. It certainly depends on the boss, for an Ice boss it might be better to focus on resist because Ice has bad critical, but a Storm boss might necessitate more block.
A good guideline is to focus on basic stats first. Resist, damage, accuracy and pips always help. Block and Critical are situational. If you can keep the basics and gain advanced stats do it, but don't trade basics for advanced. There are exceptions of course, but think of it this way:
If you are fighting things that don't crit, block has no value. If you were fighting things that crit all the time, and you could block all the time, block would reduce damage 50%. So at most 100% block would be like 50% resist, but only if every incoming attack was critical.
For critical vs damage, 100% critical would be like 100% damage boost, but only if you are fighting things that never block.
It is true that Critical Hit/Block are just a chance, however, in the higher level worlds, mobs begin with much more Pips, are capable of casting much stronger attacks, with the chance to critically hit you.
I have found that w/o Critical Block I'm sent back to a base camp more often than not. If you are able to resist a percentage of "normal" hit, that is great, but resisting a small portion of a critical hit, w/o blocking the critical aspect, can be a major factor in how the duel ends.
It could also be argued that the best defense is a good offense, and rather than attempting to stack your critical block, work in the opposite direction and improve your critical hit in hopes to end duels quicker.
My own personal play-style for my Death wizard is I prefer to improve my Critical Hit/Block, as I have zero resistance from my gear. While I don't hit the hardest, I have the unique ability to heal myself with literally every attack I choose to use in my spell deck.
The basic guidlines for when you should go for certain stats on a class my class and level by level basis
Ice - You will always go resist and block until you are ready to farm level 90-100 content, then you go full critical build with damage as a secondary priority. Fire - You will stay with a nice mix of damage and resist until you hit level 76, at that point you will focus more on critical rating and some (not a lot, maybe like 100-130) block. Fire gets VERY low damage from gear for some odd reason, but their critical is similar to storm. Storm - You will want a nice bit of damage with a medium amount of resist until level 76. Then you will want to go full critical+damage, survivability is not something you can be good at. The quicker you kill things, the less damage you take. Death - You want a nice combo of damage and some resist until you hit roughly level 90. At this point you will want more block and damage. You can try going for critical and damage at level 90-100, however death will not get high amounts of critical through gear. Life - Depending on play, you want a balance of resist and healing output. At higher levels you want full resist and healing output, but experimenting with critical is okay. Myth - Similar to storm. You want damage and critical at higher levels. Balance - You want damage and resist at the lower levels. Once you hit 76 go full damage and critical. Your crafted gear will naturally give you decent enough block that surviving will be easy.
The basic guidlines for when you should go for certain stats on a class my class and level by level basis
Ice - You will always go resist and block until you are ready to farm level 90-100 content, then you go full critical build with damage as a secondary priority. Fire - You will stay with a nice mix of damage and resist until you hit level 76, at that point you will focus more on critical rating and some (not a lot, maybe like 100-130) block. Fire gets VERY low damage from gear for some odd reason, but their critical is similar to storm. Storm - You will want a nice bit of damage with a medium amount of resist until level 76. Then you will want to go full critical+damage, survivability is not something you can be good at. The quicker you kill things, the less damage you take. Death - You want a nice combo of damage and some resist until you hit roughly level 90. At this point you will want more block and damage. You can try going for critical and damage at level 90-100, however death will not get high amounts of critical through gear. Life - Depending on play, you want a balance of resist and healing output. At higher levels you want full resist and healing output, but experimenting with critical is okay. Myth - Similar to storm. You want damage and critical at higher levels. Balance - You want damage and resist at the lower levels. Once you hit 76 go full damage and critical. Your crafted gear will naturally give you decent enough block that surviving will be easy.
Not necessarily true.
Any school can get good stats with the right mix of crafted/dropped gear (the exception is wands from hoard packs, as they are better than anything available in-game). Personally, I don't bother with critical: as a solo player, luck-based stats don't fit with my play style. I want tangible, reliable, useful stuff that helps me get the job done right the first time.
My storm wizard can hit hard, but I decided to forgo critical and gave up a little bit of damage in favour of defensive stats. Her damage is still in the high 80s, but I also have 32% universal resist and over 200 block (no Hades or Morganthe gear here, either): she can kill quickly, but has enough padding that a few lucky crits won't send her back to the commons.
I use the hat and cape from waterworks, level 86 dropped ring, Azteca crafted boots and athame, a wand from some pack or other (that gives a bunch of block and armour piercing); my amulet is from the bazaar and gives me an extra blade, plus I have a pet with sprite, defy, pain giver, and may cast balanceblade. And, if I can do it, so can anyone else.
At higher levels block is a must. Resist is nice, but block is a must, even for the mobs in AV/AZ. I would opt for damage boost versus critical, as when you really need a critical, you are probably facing someone that is going to block it anyways. There are some bought wands that offer nice block (I have one from AZ and I am level 95) and craft the AV/AZ boots. Those two things alone will help you with block. One unblocked critical can really upset your whole game plan in a fight. At higher levels my priorities are Block>Resist>Damage>Critical.
