TGDB.net - Game news, cheats, solutions, walkthroughs, trainers, saved games and much more!

* Henchmen: Just because you solo doesn't mean you can take advantage of henchmen.  Every henchman is looking for an item and will give you a reward if you find it for them.  Hire each henchman, have them talk about themselves and then release them from your service.  You only need to pay them once.  When they talk to you they will give you clues as to what is the item they are looking for.  Go back each time you level up, hire and talk to each one and they will tell you more about themselves and give you more clues.  Return the item they are looking for an they will give you a magic item as a reward.  Boddyknock has a
VERY good magic item for wizards.  The others also give good rewards as well.  Note: you must find the item they are looking for before you complete the chapter or you will not get a better replacement in the next chapter nor find the original item they were looking for as you can't go back to a previous chapter.

* MID GAME: Character levels 10 - 16.  At these levels you get more powerful spells and area effect spells.  Your tactics will be similar because the game will throw tougher opponents at you but your new array of spells will let you stand up to them better.

* Boots of Speed: I have to make mention of these Boots as they will dramatically change how you play the game when you solo.  The boots give the wearer a permanent haste effect.  This frees a spell slot giving you another spell to use for something else.  Scouting and fishing tactics are much more effective when your wearing them.  You can also cast more spells which makes hit and run tactics with your old spells seem like a different attack altogether.  Buy or equip these boots as soon as you find them.

* Area Effect spells: By now you should have a good selection of area effect spells to use.  The area affect spells should always be used first followed by individual attack spells.  Use these to clear out lower monsters and soften up the stronger ones.  Use the cloud varieties with your bow to setup traps in doorways, city streets, and hallways.
The lightning spell is particularly good on undead.  Bait the undead to follow you in to a hallway to use them.  Use the Fireball spell in place of your bow for hit and run attacks.

* Tensors Transformation: You should always have one of these spells available as soon as you can.  This spell will be a key spell for
Wizards that solo.  Use the spell to escape if your character is losing hit points rapidly.  Transform and then get out.  Use this spell to take down a boss monster after all your other spells have been used.  This spell can also save you if you get surrounded by tough monsters or help you finish off a tough monster.  Remember Tensors doesn't last long but the effects of most buffing spells like Stoneskin and Shadow Shield will still be in effect after you cast the spell.  So buff up first then cast this spell.  This spell dramatically increases fortitude saves so encounters with spiders and mummies won't be such a pain.

* LATE GAME: Character levels 17 - 20.  Here you reach the pinnacle of your power and you should be able to slaughter just about anything that comes your way.  Time Stop, maxed spells, Horrid Wilting and save or die spells along with Premonition will be you main weapons.  Always scout ahead and memorize the right spells to crush your opposition.  Fire spells are of no use against Fire Elementals but a few Cone of Cold spells will kill them right away.

* Time Stop: As soon as you get to level 17 memorize this spell.  This is the wizards ultimate spell.  You can use this spell in a variety of ways.  The ultimate hit and run - Cast Time Stop and then rush in and cast 3 spells and run out.  Run in and just before the enemies get to you cast Time Stop and then cast your best area of effect spells.
Sneak up to your enemies cast time stop and then your best area of effect spells and you will catch them all flat footed for extra damage.
Cast
Time Stop to steal items from powerful opponents without fighting them.

* Maxed Spells: Cone of Cold, Flame Arrow, Chain Lightning, and
Fireball are examples of mid level spells that can be turned into spells of massive destruction when they are maximized.  Use these spells with
Time
Stop to annihilate your opponents before they can even get a shot off.

* Save or Die Spells: These are save throw spells where your opponent has to make the right saving throw or die instantly.  Examples of these spells are Wail of the Banshee (Fortitude) and Weird (Will).  Use
Wail of the Banshee on enemy mages and Weird on fighters.  Cast both these spells after a Time Stop to quickly clear an area of opponents.

* Horrid Wilting: Cast this spell on foes that are resistant to elemental dammage.  This spell doesn't stack so you need to cast a second
Horrid
Wilting a second or two after the first one.  Good spell to use before a
Time Stop.  It has long range and can target a group of opponents.

* Power Word Kill: One of the best spells you have for single combat.
Just get an opponent under 100 hit points (badly wounded or near death) and cast this spell.  This spell has NO saving throw.  So it is always lethal.  Should be the last spell you cast after a time stop.

*******************************************************************************

    *******************
10- TIPS AND TRICKS
    *******************

Here are some added tips to help you get the most out of your wizard.
Also check out the "SOLOING TIPS" section for more useful tips.  Have fun.

* Scouting: As weak as you are as a wizard you can't afford to get into melee combat so scout a head to see what your going up against.  Is it 1 monster or 4?  Is it a tougher monster?  Right Click on the NPC and click the eye icon to find out.  Proceed slowly and methodically and have an area of retreat planned in case you need to run.

* Potions: Don't hoard these in the single player campaign, especially healing potions.  They are not expensive, they don't take up much space and you find them everywhere.  Always have at least 5 but never more than 10 of each kind on you at one time.  If your wounded use a potion to heal instead of resting if you still have spells left.  Use a potion when your hit points drop below the halfway mark so you can always survive 1 big attack.

* Treasure: Search everywhere for treasure.  Break down the doors of homes.
Bookshelves, drawers, and corpses all have treasure.  Don't be picky, in the early levels a torch or a book is worth 2 gold pieces.  When you can't carry anymore go back and sell them.  Later on you can be more picky and only collect the good treasure.  ALWAYS identify an item before selling it.

* Buffing: Buffing spells are vital during the early part of the game.
Always cast them on yourself or your familiar and henchman and rest immediately after their effects wear off so you can recast them.  Never go into a fight before using them.

* Frost Wand:  You should use your Frost wand to attack weak monsters and open doors and chests.  Early in the game the Frost wand will do as much damage as an arrow.  Start using your bow when you start getting 2 hit points or less out of each attack.  Always use the Frost wand to open locked doors and chests until you get to the mid levels.

* Gold: Gold does no good sitting in your pocket so spend it.  Keep a few hundred gold pieces just in case you need it for bribes or to return back to a place via the temple.  You won't need any money for identifying items because of your class unless you get real lucky.  If you do get lucky then just buy an
Identify spell scroll for 42 Gold and drag to your spell book.  It's cheaper than an identifying the item at a temple or merchant.

* Armor Class: AC is negligible to a Wizard.  At low levels you won't have enough hit points to engage in melee combat and at higher levels any fighter will have too high to-hit bonuses so AC doesn't matter.  Your defense will come from Damage Reduction spells like Stoneskin.

* Melee Combat: If you choose elf as your race use your bows at range and then quickly switch to a Longsword or Rapier on EASY monsters only in melee combat.
This will help you save on spells and arrows.  You can actually get quite a lot of mileage out of this when you get a regeneration ring.  DONT use this tactic on mid level or harder monsters.  Use spells and hit and run tactics with your bow to finish off these guys.

* Saving Throws: Wizards only have good will saves.  For a Wizard to
Fortitude save against a Wail of the Banshee spell he needs at least a DC of 23 (Base
DC
10, +9 (lv9 spell), +4) *** Wizard must have an INT of 19 to cast a Wail of the
Banshee so that's a +4 bonus.***  Same For a Reflex save against Enhanced
Fireballs, Dragon Breath, trap damage...  Use a combination of equipment and spells to get this higher.

* Chests: It is better to try to open a chest rather than bash it open as you can significantly lower your treasure haul if you bash it open in many cases.  Most of the chests have the same treasure in them for OnDeath and
OnOpen. HOWEVER, most of the BOSS treasure chests and some of the others have
DIFFERENT treasure for them.  Use a Knock spell or Pixie familiar to open these.

* Weapons: Always upgrade your weapons.  Don't wait for a lucky break to get a good weapon from a chest.  As you level up the game will become harder so you need to upgrade your weapons to match.

* Spells: Don't be afraid to buy spells from a merchant if you have the money.
When you level up only get to choose a few spells so if there is another spell you want after you level up try buying it from the temple or a merchant.

* Quickbars: You can drag inventory items or spells to the quickbar (hot keys) for quick and easy access.  Pressing the Shift and Ctrl button will show a different quickbar so you get 36 button assignment slots.  Drag your most powerful spells and equipment to it.  I try to keep mine organized with my best spells in the first one, buffing spells the shift one and equipment in the
Ctrl one.  Update these quickbars as you gain new spells and equipment.

* Familiar: You can heal your familiar easily by feeding it.  Click on your familiar Press 4 to feed him and 1 to end dialog.  You can do this at any time even during combat.  You can also take control of your familiar by possessing him.  This is how you can use him to scout for you.

* If you get badly wounded switch to a weapon with vampiric regeneration to help you gain hit points in a fight.  Arrows of this type can be very useful.

* Save often:  You can't be sure what might be waiting for around the corner.
It really stinks to beat a tough NPC, and then get killed by a weak one that you missed while your raiding the treasure chests.  Now you have to play for an hour to get back to where you were.  I always save before and after a tough fight or any duration longer than 15 minutes.