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CONTROL WIZARD
Mod 15 PvE Guide
Shado@Trzebiat
22.11.2018 (updated)
Below is my Mod 15 PvE Control Wizard guide. I decided to make a separate guide for mod 15 rather than
updating my Guide to Wizardry (at least for now because I’m lazy) for two reasons. First, due to the amount of
changes a lot of things requires rewriting which will take extra time, and second, I wanted to make it a bit
shorter and more user friendly and easier to read focusing on the most important things limiting a bit all the
theorycrafting and math parts.
This is in my opinion the most optimal way to build and play CW in mod 15.
For all console players still on mod 14, use this guide to prepare for incoming changes in mod 15 and work on
rebalancing stats if you now lack recovery and practice managing chill stacks without Icy Terrain and Icy Veins on
bosses which will play big part of maximizing damage.
As always I encourage everyone to check the links at the end of the guide for sources and further reading. Feel
free to share this guide if you like, and for anyone who wants to contact me, you can find me on Facebook
Neverwinter Control Wizards group or on Discord by username Trzebiat#8054. And taking an opportunity here
for this outrageous self promotion, here’s my YouTube channelfor anyone interested.
CW class while being primarily a DPS class can be Also as the only class having ability to increase allies’
described the best as a hybrid. It’s a buff/DPS class crit chance and RI plus having other percentage
that connects both DPS and support aspects. based defensive buffs and control, CW is a must for
the new challenge mode that scales down
With class rebalance in mod 15 CW has been moved everyone’s IL and stats.
even more towards single target damage from AoE
and should be one of the top single target DPS Depending on gear and stats (and also skill) CW will
classes making it even stronger and better fit as be able to fill the DPS role as main or secondary DPS
main DPS in groups, while still having the option of when being geared for it and support role to provide
providing additional support in groups when being additional debuff and control when being
undergeared. undergeared.
CW group utility
With access to some buffs and debuffs each CW primarily brings 40% debuff on bosses, can grant the group
Combat Advantage and provide variety of unique buffs from Renegade’s Chaos Magic like 20% increased
damage, crit chance and RI, AP gain and recharge speed and even movement, damage resistance and deflect
chance. When not being geared well enough to fill the DPS role CW can provide additional 20-49% debuff by
going for more support at the cost of personal damage and slotting one or two debuff passives, and in case of
dedicated debuffer even more with debuff enchant, companion, artifact set, main artifact and Drow race.
The most important changes in mod 15
In mod 15 in terms of DPS the difference between In AoE though SS is the primary DPS spec due to
paragon paths becomes less relevant because you damage from Storm Spell class feature which can go
don’t need to rely on signature powers of each path, up to 30-40% of total damage, especially after the
but depending on the situation some things will change to Aura of Courage no longer proccing on
work out better. each tick of DoT powers like IT and OF but now only
once on initial hit. Because Storm Spell relies on crit
Similar to mod 14 MoF is still the top single target chance it’s only worth using in AoE when having high
DPS spec due to free damage from Smolder DoT, but enough, at least 80% crit. But if you’re highly geared
with neither MoF and SS using their signature class and run in sweaty buff teams where you can 1 shot
features for single target DPS anymore, the all mobs with just Oppressive Force and Steal Time,
advantage of MoF over SS is lower than in mod 14 then paragon path becomes irrelevant.
and running SS for bosses doesn’t come with as
much damage loss compared to MoF as before.
DPS vs support
Oppressor
The only thing that even made Opp viable for DPS in previous mods was change to Shatter Strike allowing it to
scale with buffs and triggering with every power, but now with that taken away it’s back to its previous state and
no longer good for DPS.
Thaumaturge
It’s still dead and makes even less sense than in previous mod. Just ignore all feats past tier 3. You only need 15
remaining points here for Elemental Reinforcement. Thaum spec is not viable for anything except asking to be
kicked from the group and it’s recommended to also use Repel for mobs and Imprisonment to not waste other
people time and help them decide to kick CW from the group faster. Seriously, don’t run Thaum.
Renegade
In previous mod it was primary DPS spec when there was no other source of Combat Advantage since the ability
of granting everyone CA was the main selling point of Rene spec, not Chaos Magic with its 30% buff from Fury.
But now with the change to Oppressor capstone it’s the only viable DPS spec, especially with added new feat for
powers dealing 5-50% more damage. While Chaos Magic has been reworked and buff values were lowered to
20% from 30% and each buff has 10 sec cooldown, it received couple additional buffs which can also be useful
like 20% recharge speed and AP gain, but also each buff can be triggered separately which allows to have
multiple buffs up at the same time. While previously the choice between Opp vs Rene loadout was depending if
group has other source of CA, now it’s just a matter of taking Nightmare Wizardry feat if group doesn’t have
reliable source of CA.
Build(s)
There are two primary ways to build CW on “hardware” part (race, ability score, gear, stats, companions). First -
DPS, and second - full support. This is a deciding point, if you plan to play CW only as an alt and invest into it as
little as possible but still be able to participate in end game content and be useful at low cost - build for support.
Otherwise build for DPS. Because of lots of differences full support build is covered separately at the end of the
guide.
With access to loadouts it’s important to remember that the actual difference between loadouts will be limited
to the “software” part - feats and powers while everything else will stay the same maybe with some minor
details like one boon or artifact here and there.
Race
For DPS
Human - one of the best free races for CW, offers +2 to any ability score (preferably +2 INT) and additional
3 heroic feat points which is especially good for single target DPS because CW has two good feats in final tier
and this allows to max them both. You always want to use the extra 3 points to max Learned Spellcaster feat for
single target loadouts. For AoE loadouts you want to max Arcane Enhancement feat and then put the remaining
2 points in either Prestidigitation for some extra stats or optionally Controlling Action for extra AP gain.
Tiefling - next to Human the other best free race, offers +2 INT and CHA and extra 5% damage buff against
targets below 50% HP.
For support
Drow - best race for additional support if you decide to go this way, offers +2 DEX and a choice between +2 WIS
and CHA (preferably WIS for support) but the most important is its extra debuff - Darkfire. It’s 5% DR debuff and
can be stacked with some of the CW’s powers.
Ability score
16 INT 16 WIS 12 CHA - only when planning to invest as little as possible into character and playing exclusively
as full support, recommended Drow race as well
Stats priority
Offensive stats
Armor Penetration to Resistance Ignored cap (CR - 100%, T9G/CoDG - 85%, lvl 73 older content - 60%, lvl 70-72
content - 40%). It’s number one priority stat, you need to have enough RI to ignore enemy DR so you can do full
damage.
Critical Strike to 100% cap. As DPS you aim for capped crit to maximize damage, especially in AoE when using
Storm Spell passive which relies on crit. Renegade path offers 5% free crit with one feat and can also provide
20% more from Chaotic Nexus.
Recovery helps with two things - cooldown reduction of encounters and AP gain. It’s very important for
maximizing damage by reducing cooldown times to maintain fluid rotation and being able to use daily as often
as possible, especially on single target to keep up all self buffs.
Defensive stats
HP is the most important defensive stat for CW providing not only increased survivability but also can be turned
into more damage when running with OP due to AoC damage. You should aim for at least 200k HP
Tertiary stats
All tertiary stats have strong diminishing return after some point so it’s good to keep them around 1000-1400
and it’s worth to focus only on the few most important ones - CA bonus, AP gainand Control bonus .
Class mechanics
Chill
Chill stacks are the primary control mechanic of CW. You can apply chill with cold powers and Icy
Veins feat and when enemy reaches 6 stacks and you try to apply chill with Icy Terrain or Ray of
Frost it will freeze non CC immune enemy for brief moment. Except of control chill stacks also
interact with different powers and feats that can use them for increasing your damage based
on the number of stacks or if enemy is frozen, which requires managing them to keep the
highest damage increase and becomes very important part of maximizing DPS
Arcane Mastery
Increases damage of all arcane powers by 4% per arcane stack for max 20% at 5 stacks. You
gain arcane stacks by using arcane powers and managing arcane stacks becomes important
part of maximizing personal damage. Arcane stacks can also interact with other aspects of
different powers like increased buff or debuff values or number of hits of some powers.
Spell mastery
As a special “Tab” mechanic (R1/RB on consoles) you have access to 4th encounter that when
slotted on mastery gains an additional effect or changes its behavior depending on the power
Toughness
Increases your HP by 9.89% (more than tooltip says) which helps with survivability and
increases AoC damage when running with OP.
Learned Spellcaster
Increases bonus damage Intelligence gives by 1/2/3/4/5% and then multiplies by damage
increase from INT. You should always put 5 points for AoE and 2 points for single target (in case
of Human add extra 3 points here). It will always be at least 2% or 5% extra damage.
(1 + (INT - 10) / 100)) * Learned Spellcaster = Damage increase in %
For 28 INT it’s:
(1 + (28 - 10) / 100)) * 2 = (1 + 18 / 100) * 2 = 2.36%
(1 + (28 - 10) / 100)) * 5 = (1 + 18 / 100) * 5 = 5.9%
Focused Wizardry
Increases damage of single target spells by 30% while decreasing damage of AoE spells by
10%. Always put 3 points for single target, no points for AoE. This feat primarily decides if we
consider the loadout AoE or single target.
Elemental Reinforcement
Using any cold, arcane, fire (MoF) and lightning (SS) power grants its elemental buff for
10 seconds increasing damage by 5% per element. Since it no longer requires encounters to
trigger it, all 3 buff from all elements can be easily kept up with using any power including
dailies and at wills
Nightmare Wizardry
When you critically strike you have a chance to grant everyone Combat Advantage against the
target. Combat Advantage is huge damage increase, especially with Razorwood companion so
it’s very important to make sure you and the group always have CA and this feat is the best and
easiest way to provide CA for everyone because it only requires you to crit an enemy. To
maximize the chance of granting CA as fast as possible and its uptime put 5 points here,
especially if you don’t have capped crit. With capped crit 2-3 points can be enough in AoE due to
the amount of hits from all DoT powers.
Phantasmal Destruction
When you deal damage while having Combat Advantage you have a chance to get
5/10/15/20/25% crit sev. Split points between this and Nightmare Wizardry depending on the
need to provide CA. Keep in mind if you decide to put all points here leaving zero in Nightmare
Wizardry, when there’s no one to force CA or not possible to get CA by positioning, especially in
AoE, this feat becomes useless so only consider that for premade groups that have other
reliable source of CA.
Uncontrolled Obliteration
At 5 points your powers have a chance to deal 5%, 16%, 33% or 50% more damage. The chance
of getting each buff is 40% chance for 5% buff, 30% for 16% buff, 20% for 33% buff and 10%
for 50% buff.
Chaos Magic
Your powers have 5% chance to trigger one of the six buffs. Each buff lasts 10 sec and then
goes on 10 sec cooldown.
- Chaotic Fury- 20% damage buff and 10% lifesteal chance
- Chaotic Growth- 20% incoming healing and HoT for 10% of max HP every 2.5 sec
- Chaotic Nexus- 20% crit chance and RI
- Chaotic Discipline- 20% recharge speed and AP gain
- Chaotic Fortitude- 20% damage resistance and stamina gain
- Chaotic Speed- 20% movement speed and deflect chance
Icy Veins
When using encounter you apply 1/2/3/4/5 chill stacks to all enemies in 15’ range. It’s great for
additional control allowing to freeze enemies quickly without slowly building chill stacks with IT
and CoI on mastery. Unfortunately DoT encounters like IT and CoI no longer proc it on each tick
but only once on initial hit.
Spell Twisting
When gearing up and having low recovery you can optionally put points here instead Elemental
Reinforcement to help with cooldowns, later when getting above about 12k recovery you can
drop it
Loadouts
The main DPS and support path in mod 15 is Renegade. Paragon path (Spellstorm and Master of Flames) and
allocation of feats depend on the purpose of the loadout if it’s meant for single target or AoE, DPS or extra
control and support and if the group has other source of Combat Advantage or not.
Each loadout has primary and secondary feats. Primary feats are feats that are the most important for
maximizing personal damage or support, secondary feats are feats that are either required to unlock the next
tier or are optional and can be taken instead depending on the group composition and the type of content the
loadout will be used for.
For CWs who are gearing up and don’t have yet good DPS gear and stats to fill the role of main DPS I’d
recommend using the 2 default slots for the following loadouts putting max points into Nightmare Wizardry
feat.
These two will cover the most needs when gearing up allowing to provide extra support in groups as well as
getting extra control when soloing and fighting mobs in harder zones or helping with cooldowns when having
low recovery.
These two should be able to cover both single target and AoE DPS needs and also allow to provide additional
support if necessary.
When having access to more loadouts and wanting to maximize damage additional specialized loadouts will be
better for specific situations and group compositions. Because Combat Advantage is very important for
maximizing damage, I’d recommend making loadouts with max points in Phantasmal Destruction over
Nightmare Wizardry ONLY as the secondary variant of the same loadout with Nightmare Wizardry to use it if
you’re absolutely sure to run with group that will have other reliable source of CA.
Remember that losing CA or not getting it at all in the first place will net significant damage loss that
extra crit sev will never be able to compensate - Combat Advantage, especially with Razorwood
companion, will provide around 31-35% more damage to all critical hits when having 100-125%
crit sev, and up to 70% more damage to everything that doesn’t crit. In AoE the uptime of CA from
other classes can vary a lot.
MoF Rene/Thaum single target
This is the primary single target DPS and support
spec. As the bare minimum for any CW this is the
most important and a must have loadout. It’s the
most universal spec and will work well for the most
different situations, group compositions and roles
in groups at any IL.
SS Rene/Thaum AoE
This is the primary AoE DPS spec for highly geared
CWs who have capped or high at least 80% crit
because it relies on Storm Spell passive that is
dependant on crit. If you’re not geared for DPS and
don’t have high crit chance you should run MoF in
AoE for additional debuff in groups.
Depending if you want to keep one or make extra
variants of this loadout, you might choose between
AoE feats (Controlling Action, Wizard’s Wrath,
Malevolent Surge) if you’re gonna use it for soloing,
and single target feats (Fight On, Tempest Magic)
for a variant to use on single target fights when
there’s MoF in group.
SS Rene/Opp AoE
This is the secondary AoE DPS spec offering
additional control at the cost of some damage
buffs from Thaum. It allows to instantly freeze
mobs thanks to Icy Veins feat in content that may
needs extra control and with the loss of few buffs
it can partially compensate them by allowing to
maximize damage increase from Chilling Presence.
MoF Rene/Opp single target
This is the secondary support spec offering
additional control, extra 5% debuff and increased
duration of Combustive Action debuff.
The most important in this spec though is to not take the capstone - Shatter Strike, because it
will mess with chill stacks dropping them and requiring to build them again on CC immune enemies
and bosses while on non CC immune enemies it will not only drop chill to zero but also prevent to
apply any chill stacks for couple seconds resulting in the loss of damage for the other CW using
Chilling Presence. Since you’d run this spec specifically to maximize synergy of 2 CWs and to
maximize the damage of the other CW, even if you can quickly build chill stacks again thanks to Icy
Veins, any downtime is damage loss. The downside of this spec is lack of Nightmare Wizardry so
there has to be someone else in group being able to provide reliable CA or just DPS CW should use
loadout with Nightmare Wizardry.
Class features
Evocation (Evo)
It gives 25% buff to all AoE powers, additional 5% with off hand power. Good replacement for
Chilling Presence since it doesn’t rely on chill stacks so you don’t have to worry about managing
chill stacks. It can be better for trash clearing than Chilling Presence and should be your primary
DPS passive in AoE.
Arcane Presence
Grants 20% recharge speed and makes all powers, not only arcane ones, to benefit from Arcane Mastery getting
4% increased damage per arcane stack for up to 20% at 5 stacks (doubled if using in combo with Arcane Power
Field). While it may sound good on paper, it has couple flaws and the biggest one is that you can only get arcane
stacks by using arcane powers which Arcane Presence won’t affect, so you’re forced to use arcane powers
anyway to get increased damage of cold, fire and lightning powers. Since the hardest hitting powers in AoE are
arcane powers and on single target Dis is also arcane power, it has very little use but it’s easy to fall into that
trap.
Critical Conflagration
Gives extra 20% crit sev and makes each crit to apply Smolder. Because damage increase from extra crit sev is
much lower than from using other passives and Smolder damage in AoE isn’t great, there’s never any reason to
use this passive. On bosses it’s even worse because applying Smolder can be done with just tapping Scorching
Burst and there are already much better passives to use.
Encounters
Except the default division for cold powers that can apply chill, arcane powers that can give arcane stacks and
benefit from Arcane Mastery and paragon specific powers - fire and lightning, we can divide powers by their
role: damage - powers with high damage used directly for that purpose (Dis, IK, ST), procs - DoT powers that
deal relatively low damage over time but are used for proccing other things (IT, CoI) and utility - powers that are
used mainly for some kind of utility like providing debuff increasing damage (RoE).
Conduit of Ice (CoI)
One of the two proc encounters used for managing chill stacks and maximizing Storm Spell
procs in AoE. When put on mastery it applies chill to the primary and 6 near targets on each
tick. By default it gains increased damage per each stack of chill.
Disintegrate (Dis)
CW’s best and hardest hitting single target power. With very short cooldown. With mod 15
changes it becomes a boss killer changing the playstyle to focus on buffing it as much as
possible. It benefits from Arcane Mastery twice getting 40% damage increase instead 20% at
5 stacks and combined with APF it’s doubled for 80% for even more damage and as a result it’s
the main source of damage on single target. In addition when enemy is below 25% HP it deals
100% more damage and when put on mastery it’s 300% more. This means during boss fights,
especially if there are phases with enough time to do it, when reaching 25% HP it’s good to
switch it to mastery leaving RoE off mastery.
Repel
Off mastery it’s a third single target arcane encounter in terms of damage after Dis and EF.
While it does less damage than other single target powers including FtF, CS and IR, it has much
lower cooldown and delivers full damage in single hit instead DoT which makes it a viable
alternative for damage when using APF. Since bosses are immune to control, its pushback is
not an issue.
Dailies
There are only two daily powers worth using in PvE - one for AoE and one for single target.
At wills
Rotations
Regardless of the loadout you will always keep the same dailies slotted, 1 cold at will for chill and damage when
you have other powers on cooldown plus SS or MoF signature at will to be able to proc buffs from feats or to
apply Smolder.
At wills
Ray of Frost- managing chill stacks on single Scorching Burst (MoF)- Elemental
target and finishing mobs in AoE Reinforcement and applying Smolder
Chilling Cloud- extra chill stacks and damage Storm Pillar (SS)- Elemental Reinforcement
in AoE and Destructive Wizardry
Dailies
Oppressive Force- damage and control plus Ice Knife- damage on single target
maxing arcane stacks in AoE
As DPS CW in mod 15 your single target rotation should focus on maximizing damage of Disintegrate by keeping
up all self buffs (Chilling Presence, Arcane Power Field, Arcane Mastery, Elemental Reinforcement and
Destructive Wizardry on SS) and debuff from Ray of Enfeeblement, and timing your Soul Sight Crystal artifact,
Swarm combat power and Ice Knife for APF with party buffs to deliver the most damage during buff window
with IK, Dis and 2 other damage powers.
Because we lost quickly stacking chill from Icy Veins and increased duration of chill stacks from Shatter Strike,
manually managing chill stacks with 1 or 2 cold encounters (CS and/or IR), RoF at will and IK daily to keep the
max buff from CP plays very important role in maximizing single target damage. If you have difficulties managing
chill stacks you can use IT as the last resort sacrificing damage on one encounter slot but making sure you have
max 6 chill stacks all the time on stationary bosses.
Class features
Chilling Presence- 24% more damage for all Arcane Power Field- for maximizing damage
powers of Disintegrate
Encounters
Cold power for managing
Spell Mastery Primary damage power 4th power of choice
chill stacks
Ray of Enfeeblement- Disintegrate- primary Chill Strike- decent Fanning the Flame-
35-40% debuff on the source of damage on damage, average high DoT damage, long
single target single target cooldown and AP gain cooldown
AoE DPS
If you’re using Storm Spellpassive, maximizing its procs can be achieved the best by using both CoI
and
IT
.
If you’re using Chilling Presence but don’t have Icy Veins, you need to manually manage chill stacks which
forces using CoI on mastery for applying chill and timing your hardest hitting powers - Oppressive Force and
Steal Time to deliver their final main hit when mobs are frozen to benefit from 48% damage increase. Because
of that in most situations Evocation is more reliable for DPS because you don’t need to rely on chill stacks and
freezing mobs.
If you can 1 shot mobs with just OF + ST or when using MoF loadout for AoE parts in content where switching
loadouts is not convenient (Castle Ravenloft) or not possible at all (Cradle of the Death God) you can use
Evo + APF to maximize arcane damage and replace CoI with CS on mastery for another damage power, or use
CP + Evo.
Class features
Evocation- 25% more damage for AoE Storm Spell- extra burst damage from procs
powers
Chilling Presence- 24/48% more damage if you Arcane Power Field- if you can 1 shot mobs with
can manage chill and time your powers when mobs just OF and ST when staying on MoF loadout in
are frozen or when having Icy Veins AoE
Encounters
Spell Mastery Control and chill stacks Primary damage power 4th power of choice
Conduit of Ice- for chill Icy Terrain- applying Steal Time- primary Disintegrate- for
and maximizing Storm chill and freezing mobs source of damage in finishing single enemies
Spell procs and maximizing Storm AoE
Spell procs
Chill Strike- for Sudden Storm- for AoE
damage when CoI is not damage when mobs are
needed packed in groups
Conduit of Ice Oppressive Force Ray of Frost/Chilling Cloud
from far away to start for arcane stacks Steal Time when other powers
DoT and procs and damage for primary damage are on cooldown
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Storm Pillar/Scorching Burst Icy Terrain Sudden Storm/Chill Strike Disintegrate
for Elemental Reinforcement when close to mobs for secondary damage for finishing single enemies
charge Storm Pillar for for chill and control
Destructive Wizardry
Single target support
Remember that you’re still DPS class and your goal on single target is to maximize your personal damage while
all support you provide including one extra debuff is passive and comes from your powers.
If you’re undergeared but have good amount of recovery to be able to use daily every couple seconds and run
with much better DPS who does couple times more damage than you, you can use both Swath of Destruction
for 20% and Combustive Action for another 24% debuff after using daily and run MoF Rene/Opp instead for
increased duration of Combustive debuff from Twisting Immolation feat and another 5% debuff from Bitter
Cold. You sacrifice a lot of personal damage here for not so spectacular damage increase for the group, especially
if you don’t have enough AP gain to spam daily, so it only makes sense when your damage really sucks compared
to the other DPS in group.
Class features
Chilling Presence- 24% more damage for all Swath of Destruction- 20% DR debuff on
powers single target
Encounters
Cold power for managing
Spell Mastery Primary damage power 4th power of choice
chill stacks
Ray of Enfeeblement- Disintegrate- primary Chill Strike- decent Fanning the Flame-
35-40% debuff on the source of damage on damage, average high DoT damage, long
single target single target cooldown and AP gain cooldown
AoE support
If you’re not geared well enough with DPS gear and stats (especially capped crit to maximize Storm Spell) to be
able to run as DPS in AoE, you’ll be more valuable asset to the group by going for support to provide additional
debuff(s). In mod 15 you’re still going to use
Combustive Action for 24% debuff after using daily and extra AP
gain just like in mod 14 and the playstyle doesn’t really change - for MoF, mod 15 AoE support is basically mod 14
AoE DPS when using only one debuff passive - Combustive.
If there’s no need for additional control you should run MoF Rene/Thaum, if you’re running content where extra
control and freezing mobs might be useful for your group and you have enough recovery to not use Spell
Twisting, you can run MoF Rene/Opp for Icy Veins to be able to quickly freeze mobs at the cost of losing some
personal damage.
The choice of the second class feature depends on how well you’re geared and how’s your damage compared to
other DPS in group. You can choose between increasing your personal damage by using Chilling Presence (when
having Icy Veins) or Evocation or increasing damage of your group with additional 20% debuff from
Swath of Destruction. If you’re undergeared and run with much stronger DPS who clears trash extremely fast
and does couple times more damage than you, it’ll be be better to increase his damage even more with another
debuff.
Class features
Combustive Action- 24% DR debuff after Evocation- 25% more damage for AoE
using daily and AP gain powers
Encounters
Spell Mastery Control and chill stacks Primary damage power 4th power of choice
Fanning the Flame- Icy Terrain- applying Steal Time- primary Disintegrate- for
for DoT damage and chill and freezing mobs source of damage in finishing single enemies
applying Smolder AoE
Icy Terrain
when close to mobs Chill Strike Disintegrate/Icy Rays
for chill and control for secondary damage for finishing single enemies
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Fanning the Flame Oppressive Force Steal Time Ray of Frost/Chilling Cloud
from far away to apply for arcane stacks and for primary damage when other powers
Smolder and start DoT damage, and to apply are on cooldown
Entangling Force Smolder and debuff
for control and gathering mobs
Boons
Most of the boons are self explanatory. Choose offensive over defensive stats and take boons that increase
damage. Most of the final boons in newest campaigns are very underwhelming to say at least. Make sure to take
the most important boons like:
- Elvish Fury
- Winter’s Bounty
- Drow Ambush Tactics
- Abyssal Strikes
- Dragon’s Thirst 1/3 (for 4% lifesteal)
- Undying Death
Gear
With few exceptions most of the gear in mod 15 stays the same as in mod 14. Some of the new crafted items
will be better providing more stats.
This is how stats are gonna look about with all mod 14 BiS gear on PS4 and how it’s currently looking on my CW
with Wild Storm, Watermelon Sorbet, 1k Tidespan and 1k recovery guild food used. With some of the new mod
15 items providing even more stats this can look even better with power and recovery going higher.
Armor
Manalord’s Petasos - currently the best head piece providing the most amount of
offensive stats. Easier to acquire good alternatives are Crown of the Undead
,
Primal
Imaskiand Ras Manca’s Spare Hat.
Hag’s Rags and Vistani Robes - 3% more damage for ranged powers makes Hag’s Rags
perfect especially for single target fights. In Barovia and especially Castle Ravenloft
Vistani armor even with lower stats will be better providing 5% more overall damage.
Terrored Grips - 3% more damage for encounters and higher stats on Terrored Grips
make it the best overall choice. Optionally Eyestalk Wrappers with 3% more damage on
all ranged powers but with slightly lower stats are good to use on single target boosting
damage of Ice Knife and Ray of Frost.
Enduring Boots - 3% more damage at full stamina. While being low IL it’s still the best
choice providing multiplicative damage bonus assuming you can avoid dodging which
shouldn’t be hard on bosses. Manalord’s Pigaches are good alternative providing more
stats and extra recovery, as well as Primal Kohambos, especially in AoE offering AP on
kill.
Artifact set
Orcus set - the best artifact set for damage providing up to 20% damage buff depending
on the percentage difference of HP between you and enemy. The alternative and second
best choice for DPS is Mastercrafted 3 set providing more stats with extra recovery and
movement - Beaded Sash and either Beaded, Fanged or Bronzewood Amulet depending
on what stats you’re after.
Rings
Ring of the Shadowstalker +5 and +4 - the best rings available for DPS providing 2.5%
and 2% increased damage when you’re close to enemy and the best combo to use. If you
can’t get those, Ring of the Offensive Action is good alternative providing 3% more
damage for 5 seconds after using daily.
Weapons
Masterwork III weapon set - in mod 15 mastercrafted gear received a boost to IL which
also came with increased stats and weapon damage, and there’s also +1 version offering
even higher weapon damage on main hand, making Exalted Masterwork III weapons BiS
providing about 4% increased damage than Primal and extra damage for everyone in
group. While the advantage is noticeable, Exalted Primal weapons remain a viable cheap
alternative.
Primary artifact
Soul Sight Crystal - the best artifact for single target damage providing 50% buff against
the target for 10 seconds.
Decanter of Atropal Essence - the best damage increasing artifact to use in AoE,
provides 10% buff with good uptime that can go up to 30-40 seconds.
Enchantments
Weapon Enchant
Unparalleled Feytouched - the best weapon enchant for DPS, provides 20% buff to
damage and lowers the damage of enemy by 20%. Lower ranks have cooldown so it’s not
good below Transcendent rank. The best alternative for DPS is Vorpal which is much
cheaper and gets its 50% crit sev at perfect rank and is considered the poor man’s
Feytouched. For additional support Dread offers good balance between damage and
extra debuff and is the only enchant that provides stackable debuff in case there’s
another person with the same enchant, so you’re safe to use it in every group because
Dread’s extra debuff on crits stacks.
Armor enchant
It’s mostly personal preference. For increased survivability Barkshield would be the best
choice to be able to take few extra hits but anything can work starting from
Negation
and Eclipse for defensive aspects, Lesser Soulforged as the cheap option providing free
revive, to Fireburst for extra damage and style.
Offense slots
When it comes to offensive enchants I’ll repeat what I always say. It’s impossible to point
out the best enchants because everything depends on the individual stats and gear used.
The best is combination of enchants that allow to reach RI and crit cap, get preferred
amount of recovery and provide the most power on top. Depending on needs these can be
Black Ice, Gigantic, R
uthless and when gearing up - Azure or Silvery enchants.
Defense slots
The best enchants to use in defense slots are Radiants for extra HP and increased
damage of AoC when running with OP. Alternatively Draconics and Savages offer nice
balance of HP and lifesteal.
Companions
Summoned companion
Chultan Tiger - 5% damage and speed for 25 seconds at the beginning of the fight. The
best summoned companion for DPS with good active bonus and extra 10% DR debuff to
enemy that is applied when Tiger has Combat Advantage. Has 3 offense slots and it’s
easy to gear with 2 ring and neck slots.
Active companions
Razorwood - the best active companion for every DPS, provides a major 25% boost to CA
damage and extra 2.5% crit sev, which translates to about 10-11% more damage for all
crits and 17-18% more damage for all non crits when you have Combat Advantage and we
have easy way to get CA thanks to Nightmare Wizardry feat.
Air and Earth Archons - the most common and still the best DPS companions after
Razorwood providing 5.5% and 6.5% more damage with basically 100% uptime.
For the last 5th companion there are couple options. Either the most universal
Siege Master for 4% increased damage, more situational companions providing 5% more
damage like Tamed Velociraptor if everyone in party uses one, Alpha Compy in Chult
content, Batiri Runt on bosses, War Boar to use when running with GF/GWF marking
enemies or Fire Archon for more damage when enemy is below 50% HP which is good
only on bosses though.
Companion gear
On companion Ring of the Gravestriker +5 and +4 are gonna stay BiS providing the most
stats. Good alternative are mastercrafted Beaded and Bronzewood rings that got
a noticeable boost in IL and stats in mod 15.
Mounts
Equip power
Quick Action - Coastal Flail Snail. Provides 25% AP over 10 seconds after using daily. The
best equip power for CW and the first legendary mount you should get. The epic version
for 15% AP gain is good alternative.
Combat power
Bat Swarm - Swarm. Provides 5% damage buff for you and 5% debuff on enemy for
10 seconds and frees you from most of control effects. The best combat power for DPS.
Insignia bonuses
Credits
Special thanks to my friend voodoo@oria1 for all help with tests and setting me up on PC and preview server,
Sharpedge@thefabricant for exchanging opinions and ideas, and all other people and members of CW FB group
who helped with their testing, ideas and feedback making this guide possible.
Full support build a.k.a “MoF Pure Debuffer”
This is the so called “full buff debuff MoF”, also considered the “lazy” MoF build due to its lazy playstyle. This is
very specific build and is recommended exclusively for players who want to play CW only as an alt and invest in it
as little as possible but still be able to provide some support at very low cost in end game content playing with
end game players. Its main goal is to provide as many debuffs as possible and aiming for keeping 100% uptime
of Combustive Action debuff on single target which requires casting daily every 5-8 seconds. It can be played
effectively with cheap gear and low rank enchants, even without any boons. There’s absolutely no reason to
invest into this build trying to min max it because the extra personal damage you’ll be able to deliver by building
your character for DPS and playstyle with using standard rotation and powers that doesn’t come with so huge
damage loss, will outweigh the group’s damage increase from additional debuffs.
What are all buffs and DR debuffs you want to provide with this build?
- Prestidigitation - 3% increased stats for everyone in group
- Darkfire- Drow race 5% debuff per stack and you’ll be focusing on maximizing stacking it so it’s safe to
assume at least 2 stacks on single target
- Swath of Destruction - 20% debuff to enemies affected by Smolder
- Combustive Action - 24% debuff to enemies hit by daily
- Bitter Cold - 5% debuff to enemies affected by chill
- Ray of Enfeeblement - 35-40% debuff on single target
- Dancing Shield - 20% debuff on single target
- Vistani set - 5% debuff when hitting single enemy with AoE power
- Unparalleled Frost, Plague Fire, Dreador Terror weapon enchant - up to 12% debuff depending on
what other enchants are already in groupyou’re poor, remember? Just use some cheap Moderate Dread
or Terror for 2-3% debuff, unless you have something better you can borrow from your main
- Heart of the Black Dragon- 15% debuff for 6 seconds if you fail to miss it, alternatively any other buff or
debuff artifact (Wheel to give Fire to DPS, Lantern, Thirst, Charm, Vanguard’s Banner, etc.)
- Tyrannosaurus Rex'em- 10% debuff for 10 seconds from legendary Commander/Warpainted
Tyrannosaurwhat are you doing here if you can afford legendary mount?
On top of all of that if you’re the only CW in group you will also provide:
- Nightmare Wizardry - Combat Advantage for everyone
- Chaos Magic - various buffs with the most important being 20% damage buff, 20% recharge speed and
AP gain
- Uncertain Allegiance - 5% extra crit for allies
If there is already DPS CW running Renegade in group you want to provide Oppressor buffs to stack them with
Renegade and maximize other CW’s damage:
- Frigid Winds - 10% debuff to frozen enemies
- Controlled Momentum - 10% damage buff
- Icy Veins- quickly stacking chill for DPS CW to maximize his damage
- Smolder - providing the other CW a way to get his own Rimefire DoT for extra free damage when he’s
using SS loadout
Race and initial ability score
For full support you always want to take Drow for its Darkfire debuff, which stacking is one of the main purpose
of using specific rotation on this build. Yes, Drow race is mandatory here.
For initial ability score you want 16 INT and 16 WIS while putting all points in WIS for AP gain and
INT for
recharge speed.
Stats priority
Your main priority is to stack primarily recovery to increase AP gain. Other stats don’t matter, even arpen since
your damage will be so irrelevant with your crap stats and items you don’t need to bother with that, you could as
well play with test weapon. You might want to get some crit for Nightmare Wizardry, but don’t go crazy about it.
Gear
Just take any gear that has recovery and use R7-R8 Silvery enchants in offense slots. Some of the easy to acquire
items worth using that have recovery are:
Primal weapons are basically free so no reason to not to get them and upgrade to epic (no point wasting more
RP). Pants of the Chultan Merchantare also good to use.
For artifact equipment take either the whole Vistani set with Vistani Pendant, Vistani Raiments and
Tarokka
Deck artifact for extra 5% debuff from set bonus when you hit single enemy with AoE power, or use any neck
with AP gain and good stats plus any belt with WIS and good stats. Just upgrade to epic, no point going further.
Summoned companion
Get green or blue Dancing Shield, it’s extremely cheap, no reason to upgrade it. Put some R8 bondings on it, R10
top (or you can always borrow high rank bondings from your main if possible), you’re not gonna invest too much
into this character or this build won’t make sense. Look for any cheap belts that either have recovery stat (some
of the generic lvl 70 blue belts have 311 power/recovery) or offense slot, or both, and put some R7-R8 Silveries in
offense slots, Darks in defense slots to get some lifesteal.
Active companions
It doesn’t really matter what you have, you could take some green Ice and/or Flame Sprite for AP gain, it won’t
matter that much.
Insignia bonuses
The only insignia bonuses that matter are Shepherd’s Devotion for defensive buffs and both Artificer’s -
Persuasion and Influence for extra recovery. The rest is up to you, it hardly matters. You can use
Gladiator’s
Guileto not be slow.
Primary artifact
This is the second most expensive part of this build - getting 1 artifact to mythic. The most useful artifact for
this build would be Heart of the Black Dragon which can be used for keeping higher recovery with Artificer’s
bonuses when using artifact and missing enemies helping you to keep Combustive Action debuff, or for its 15%
debuff for 6 seconds if you’re lucky or unlucky to hit enemy with it.
Alternatively you could go for Wheel of Elements to give Fire buff to DPS or different debuff enchant, but
usually these are better fit for other classes.
Loadouts
Your primary support loadout will be MoF Rene/Opp. Since your damage will suck anyway you can skip the
damage feats like Wizard’s Wrath, Blighting Power, Arcane Enhancement, Learned Spellcaster and Focused
Wizardry, and instead focus on maximizing recharge speed and AP gain by taking other feats like
Controlling
Action, Fight Onand Prestidigitation. Just make sure you have the most important ones:
- Nightmare Wizardry
- Chaos Magic
- Bitter Cold
- Twisting Immolation
- Icy Veins
- Bitter Cold
- Twisting Immolation
- Icy Veins
- Frigid Winds
- Controlled Momentum
At this point it’s totally up to you where to allocate the rest points, you can go into Thaum to take Spell
Twisting, max couple other feats in Oppressor tree (except Shatter Strike of course) or even go into Renegade
putting the last 1 point into Nightmare Wizardry.
Rotation
You will use the same powers in both AoE and on single target switching only power used on Mastery.
For max debuff you’re gonna use both Combustive Action and Swath of Destruction passives and always use
only one daily - Oppressive Force.
For encounters you’ll use Icy Terrain, Steal Timeand Icy Raysboth in AoE and on single target.
Mastery slot will change between Fanning the Flame in AoE to apply Smolder to enemies if you don’t have daily
ready, and Ray of Enfeeblementon bosses for 35-40% debuff.
Your single target rotation is what changes the most compared to DPS rotation. The main purpose of this
rotation is to maximize chance of stacking Darkfire debuff on boss (which can be done by Icy Terrain and
Oppressive Force) and maximizing AP gain with 2 powers that have highest AP gain - Icy Rays and Steal Time, to
keep up Combustive Action debuff on boss. There isn’t any specific order in which to use powers, just make sure
to keep up RoE debuff on boss by using it at least every 8 seconds, keep Smolder on boss for Swath debuff,
spam OF for Combustive debuff and IT to stack Darkfire. Use IR and ST for AP gain. This is really lazy way to
play.
Result
As the result this is how it looks like.
AoC - Aura of Courage or Abyss of Chaos IT - Icy Te rrain
AoE - Area of Effect IV - Icy V eins
AP - A ction Points LS - Life Steal or L earned Spellcaster
APF- Arcane Power Field MM - Ma gic Missile
Arpen - Armor Penetration MoF - Master of Flame
CA - Combat Advantage or Combustive Action MW - Master work
CC - Crowd Control NW - Neverwinter
CHA - Charisma OF - Oppressive Force
ChC - Chilling Cloud Opp - Oppressor
CoI - C onduit of Ice Rene - Renegade
CON - Constitution RI - Resistance Ignored
CP - Chilling Presence RoE - Ray of Enfeeblement
CS - Chill Strike RoF - Ray of Frost
CW - C ontrol Wizard SB - Scorching Burst
DEX - Dexterity SP- S torm Pillar
Dis - Disintegrate Sev - Severity
DoT- Damage over Time SoD - Swath of Destruction
DR - Damage Resistance SS - Spellstorm (paragon) or Storm S pell (passive)
EF- Entangling Force SSC - Soul S ight Crystal
FtF - Fanning the Flame ST - Steal Time or Single Ta rget
HoT - Heal over Time STR - Strength
HP - H it Points SuS - Sudden Storm
IK - Ice Knife Thaum - Thaumaturge
INT - Intelligence WIS - Wisdom
IR - Icy
Rays
Mod 15 Control Wizard class changes Mod 12.5 PvE DPS Weapon Enchants Comparison
Sharpedge’s CW Mechanics Guide (Mod 14) Mod 13 Hunt Gear Scaling Check
Sharp’s Uncensored CW Builds (Mod 14) Soul Sight Crystal Damage Scaling
Voodoo’s Feat selection for DPS Control Wizards A calculation sheet to min-max groups (Mod 14)
Builds (Mod 14)
PvE Monster Ability Info
Voodoo’s Hybrid debuff-DPS MoF (Mod 14)
Mod 11 Damage Resistance Debuffs Spreadsheet
Voodoo’s Full Debuff MoF (Mod 12)
Damage Debuffs Spreadsheet
Group Synergy Guide
Mod 13 Power Share Comparisons
Neverwinter Feats and Powers calculator
CW Damage Scaling List
Neverwinter Wiki
Reference: Aura of Courage
Neverwinter Unblogged
Overload Enchantment Guide
Neverwinter Uncensored Toolbase
Orcus set test for CW
Neverwinter subreddit