Greetings once again. This time I will be providing the Wand weapon style guidelines. As always, feel free to comment about whether or not you agree and support it with actual evidence aka "dat skill sax cuz its meh >___>" will not cut it. Please do refer to facts such as Damage per Second, damage per SP, total damage, damage per combo, damage per SP per combo, damage per area unit (measured by the in-game metric system), Area of Effect, etc; things along those lines. You can also leave a comment either here or in the FAQ http://onigiri.cyberstep.com/_/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3100 thread in case you have some doubt about a skill or gameplay point regarding Wands.
Also on a side note, this guide will be structured in a different way than the others I have done so far given the Wand's skills nature.
This guide is also only up to date up until the Edo patch. Will eventually update it if we ever get the new content~.
Wand
"Why a wand?" - this is what we will be trying to answer here but rest assured, as far as gameplay fun goes, Wands are guaranteed to offer you that much and more. Unlike other weapon styles in the game, with only Staff being the exception, Wands gameplay is the typical kiting. This means you will find yourself whether going in Rambo style and die to a misplaced God Sealing Circle or you can play it safe and pick enemies one by one unless they are in that one circunstance where you'll want to pulverize them all at once, all of this while running for your life due to not having any means to physically block damage. Which by the way is replaced by an utterly useless (currently) SP charge stance. Ever seen that SP Regeneration stat on your Stat window? Yes, it refers to this so far useless little function.
Like any other class, a Wand offers both advantages and disadvantages, obviously. The curious fact is that it does so to the extreme. You will love being a Wand user and will also hate it at same. Why? 'Cause while playing with this weapon style will allow you to clear end game dugeons much earlier than any other weapon given the sheer power of its spells, (and honestly who does not like to make hell rain upon his enemies at a distance?) you will bite your nails to no ending with the constant need of a faster SP regeneration rate. Get ready to fill your item slots with SP Potions~.
Wands use the magic counterpart of the game to deal damage. "But Lis, there is no magical attack stat or anything close to eeeet D:!". Fear not, despite being "magic" it is still based off your Attack stat like everything else (Only two liquors worth using currently make the distinction between magic and physical sources). This means ELEMENTS YEEEEY. In fact, with the exception of the Ougi Fuujin/Raijin, every magic spell is composed of 100% elemental damage of ONE type. This is both your blessing and your curse. You will find yourself doing close to no damage to some resistent to a certain element enemies and completely massacring others if you match their weaknesses appropriately.
In very simple terms, Wand gameplay is based off high bursts of damage while kiting enemies or simply shooting them from afar before they even notice you. To you magic lovers out there, make sure to pick this weapon as you cry of joy from the eye candy the Wand's skills are; or because its pros and gameplay style mentioned above, that would work I guess...
Regular Skills
This is where the news come. I'll be dividing the regular skills for Wands in 6 categories: Single Target, Area of Effect, Melee Range AoE, Ground Targeting, Relative Ground Targeting and Utility. We will get into the explanation for each category while going through them. Let us start.
Single Target: Here I will place the regular skills that are meant to hit one target only and are uncapable of doing splash damage. It is basically aim and shoot with this, regardless of using TAB or not, since these auto-aim and stalk their targets until contact is made (Shadow Ball needs a target icon though).
- Hellfire - Hellfire shoots a tiny to massive fireball depending on rank (this is purely cosmetic though) with nearly no cast time and really fast projectile traveling speed. 100% Fire Element and nearly no cooldown, this is a skill you want to keep at hand for those tight situations where you need to move and still do damage. Its SP cost is quite pricey though but it is completely worth it.
- Freezing Bullet - A slow traveling ice projectile with a mediocre chance to freeze its target. Slightly weaker than Hellfire in all aspects: longer cooldown, increased SP cost, slower traveling speed, slower cast time, increased durability consumption and less damage. Its relatively high chance to freeze its target for a single hit skill is what makes it valuable.
- Thundercrash - Nearly no cast time and pretty fast traveling speed lightning projectile with a relatively high chance to paralyze its target. The weakest in damage of all 4 bolt type of skills but given its quick to use nature you could assume it stands as a hybrid of Hellfire's usefulness and Freezeing Bullet's handy status changes.
- Kamaitachi - Medium cast time Wind spell that crates x number of wind blades that stalk their target. Exceptionally short cooldown and SP cost. It does have a major downside though: it is incapable of making sharp turns causing some if not all the blades to miss a very close target straight in front of you or a close target beyond approximately -45º and 45º from your character axis.
- Shadow Ball - Slow cast and traveling speed projectile that stalks your target until contact. Extremely SP and durability consuming (if it weren´t for its currently glitched state where it only uses durability when cast in melee range) but extremely hard hitting. Basically a single target single hit single combo nuke.
- Bright Homing - And here it is hands down the most ridiculously overpowered Wand spell. There are quite alot of things to say here. First, its one and only downside: you need to stay still while casting it for its full length. You can simply ignore this detail 'cause the pros far outweight the cons here. Holy element, a ridiculous ammount of hits, a stupidly high ammount of Skill Force per combo and hit, at the cost of missing the first 3 combos you can snipe a mob from further away than its suposed 14m range, if you are shooting mobs in a straight line once one is put down you can simply keep casting until the next one is dead and so on, and finally, it costs nothing both SP and durability wise for what it is capable of doing. Did I mention the short cooldown? Use it, abuse it, make love with it because this extremely easy to level up spell is about the best single target spell you will probably ever have, if not the best spell in the large Wand's arsenal.
Area of Effect: Skills with the potential/ability to hit multiple targets within a single cast.
- Icicle Needle - Poor Icicle Needle belongs here all alone. That does not mean its any useless though. In fact its a completely underrated skill that quickly casts a continuous number (depending on rank) of icicle shards that fly all the way to the place you aimed for. It is currently the only skill that allows for multiple target hitting without the need to be cast on a specific area with a fixed distance between your character and its effective area; it hits whatever it comes in contact with first. Quite good to snipe enemies with.
Melee Range AoE: Exactly what the name implies, these are skills that, again, have the potential to hit multiple targets within a single cast but, this time, they do so within a short range. Does not mean the spells' effective range is short, it just means the place where they take effect is quite close to your character's hitbox.
- Poison Cloud - Somewhat slow cast time skill that casts a circular poison cloud around you for four hits each wave/combo. Currently the only method of efficiently killing a Goldaruma. Also reliable as a mobbing tool for weaker mobs.
- Blizzard Breath - Multiple hitting and multiple combo skill that creates an ice cloud straight in front of you that hits and has a chance to freeze whatever it comes into contact with. Quite reliable as an early low SP cost and fast cast mobbing tool. It is still very efficient end game to clear weaker enemies in groups of 4 or 5. Its freezing chances are surprisingly good given the ammount of hits per cast cloud.
- Call Lightning - Fast to cast spell that call X thunderbolts that hit in a circular area each in front of you. The higher the rank the more bolts are summoned and consequently the greater the distance the spell reaches. Relatively weak in Skill Force and somewhat bugged (it sometimes falls short by one bolt) but surprisingly reliable when compounded in a Gravitas given the Lightning Element boost and moderately low SP cost.
- Soul Strike - Fast cast spell that swings your Wand to deal Darkness Element damage in an arc in front of you. Decent mobbing capabilities and quite useful whenever a mob gets within your (un)desired melee range. It also debuffs your hit targets causing them to drop a variable (depending on rank) ammount of Magic Defense for a set time.
- Earth Glaive - Same mechanics as Call Lightning but much more SP consuming. For a reason though: it casts far more damaging waves (which makes it reach much further ahead) and consequently causes greater damage to large entities. Earth Element so Mist Tengu liquor is an option to make it quite damaging. It is also a valuable safety skill in case you find yourself mobbed and dangerously close to your targets.
Ground Targeting: Skills that are cast on a pre determined range and place of the field depending on your character positioning. Those are also AoE in nature but are completely independent of their desired/potential target(s) when it comes to their effective area.
- Landmine Flame - Agonizingly slow cast skill that places a fiery trap in front of you. You can place multiple Landmines but each has its own set time to stay active (around 30 seconds for rank 7 and 25 for 6, 5 second increments per rank?). This is what I consider to be a tactical and/or field control skill. Remember those annoying and silent Wheels sneaking on you and b*tch slap you do death? This is where a pre set Landmine comes in handy. It works wonders against a defensive playstyle and versus mobs that tend to rush you. Know where you are standing and use this skill to damage mobs that are forced to chase you down. It also works as a temporary flinching device that stops enemies from approaching for a short time. Deals splash damage when set but only its very last hits actually do so; the main explosion seems to be single targeting. Surprisingly damaging for a tactical skill.
- Frost Glaive - Somewhat slow cast time single combo but multiple hitting skill that casts a variable ammount (currently 1 to 3) of ice glaives tangent to the displayed circular area (representing the spell's range) right before the very cast starts. It is by far one of the most used and useful Area of Effect and ground targeting skills for a reason; it is devastating and offers a both safely distant and decently wide area of effect that usually completely cleans its targets without fail. If it fails to do so, it has a massive chance to freeze them solid given the fact that each glaive hits an entity for 3 times. A massive SP consumption is its only real downside. While it may be difficult to use at first it is granted to be a precious asset to every Wand once you manage to fire it off without having to check its the pre-cast range.
- Tornado - Quickly casts a slow moving tornado that continuously moves in a straight line directly in front of where you were facing while casting it. The tornado will keep on delivering small bursts of damage in regular intervals as long as it keeps making contact with any entity. More of an utility skill rather than a damaging one 'cause it keeps on flinching the mobs it hits, however it is also quite the heavy hitter when well placed right by a large mob such as some bosses. Should not be overlooked as it is a well balanced and for all purposes skill.
Relative Ground Targeting: Sounds confusing? It is not. Basically these are skills that despite being cast over a given area as ground targeting skills are, they change its effective area/placement relatively to their current target. Also AoE in nature but tend to take effect at the place the target WAS when the skill was STARTED to cast leading to a complete miss the majority of the times when used against fast moving mobs.
- Arrow Flock - Completely underrated skill that rains down small spears of water that crash on the ground damaging targets within its area. It is one of the most damaging single combo Water skills and can be further improved with The Tale of Genji liquor. It has two major downsides. First, its massive Ougi-like durability usage and secondly the fact it takes a hell lot of time to land all of the water spears, making it completely miss its target fairly easily and frequently. Note that each arrow appears to be only capable of hitting one target at a time. However, when used against a fairly large isolated mob this skill is capable of effortlessly land monstruous ammounts of damage.
- Aqua Geyser - One of my personal favourites, Aqua Geyser is yet another underrated skill that creates a massive geyser that hits every terget within its effective area multiple times after a somewhat long cast time and a flashy animation. While this skill is easily ignored at first, please do note that ranks 6 and 7 create a massively large geyser capable of hitting targets on the run, even the faster ones. Average cooldown and durability usage but massive SP consumption.
- Bubble Strike - Quite similar to Aqua Geyser in practice but slightly faster cast time, Bubble Strike acts exactly like you would expect the Geyser to. It is granted a massive increase in area on ranks 6 and 7 just like the Geyser making it somewhat usable. Slightly less damaging but easily flinches enemies. It also consumes quite a bit less SP than Aqua Geyser.
- Spiral Wind - The Wind counterpart of the two previous skills, Spiral Wind is much faster to cast and has an increased area when compared to the Water spells, granting it an enormous advantage over those two. It also flinches every target within its area so it serves both as a damaging and croud control/utility skill.
- Darkness Pillar - Similar to a Staff's Holy Pillar, it generates an ascending stream of darkness that hits whatever is withing its area of effect. Quite the long cast time and honestly not practical simply because it will completely miss moderate to fast moving targets. Caps at rank 5 unfortunately rendering it useless in power oriented magatama builds. Really decent versus mobs of slow moving targets though but there are far better options here.
Utility: Just as the name imples, these are skills meant to make your life easier. They do so in a kind of a paradox, which is quite interesting.
- Evade Warp - Instantly short teleports your character for a variable distance and backwards granting invulnerability frames while doing so. One could explain its uses but I will simply quote a fellow friend here aka Momiji since his description of this skill is as accurate as you will ever possibly find it: "Evade Warp is really useful for when you absolutely have to p*ssy out of a tight situation."
- Blasting Noise - The exact opposite of Warp, this skill is a vastly improved (and bugged) Taunt for Wands. It switches the aggro of all enemies within its range to you. Note that by doing this mobs tend to use their projectile spells right away since they instantly acknowledge your presence if within their active range, so to speak. Currently, evolving this skill actually downgrades it by one rank making it rank 1 but this is merely a typo. It also uses up no durability whatsoever. Costs 1 SP. Quite useful to call mobs towards you instead of running around aggroing them one by one.
Ougi Skills
Regarding Ougi, Wands are one of the few exceptions. They are actually capable of doing practically the same in end game contents with or without Ougi. Think of Wands' Ougi as a luxury rather than a necessity. They do offer a practical advantage depending on situation, though, but are far from being something you can't live without. Note that most Ougi could be categorized as relative ground targeting, with the exception of Light of Destruction and God-sealing Circle.
Crimson Ray - Quick cast skill that targets a single foe and lands consecutive Fire Element damaging waves to anything within a small circular area around said target. Quick to use and deal damage, this Ougi could be considered an add on to your DPS skill set. Be aware that like most Wand Ougi Crimson Ray can miss a fast moving target.
.gif provided by Momiji, thanksDark Gate - Contrary to the rumours, Dark Gate is actually relatively fast to cast; the exact same cast time of Fuujin/Raijin if you want to be exact. It targets the nearest foe to your character's vision axis and summons Dark Element spheres within its effective area. The spheres' placement is somewhat random for each individual cast, with the exception that one is always put right by the targeted foe. Each sphere hits multiple times whenever an entity makes contact with it, flinching it. Dark Gate might seem too weak at first but with some luck with the orbs positioning and when cast against a large foe it will do really large total ammounts of damage over time, as long as you (or rather, our RNG Jebus) manage to get all the spheres to make contact with your target. When not using the Gate as a primary damaging source you can simply cast it by the foe closest to you, providing a large flinching barrier and giving you time to cast a second area of effect skill in order to clear whatever was behind the Gate attempting to rush you. Pretty handy.
Fuujin/Raijin - Same cast time as Dark Gate, Fuujin/Raijin targets a foe and summons a triple lightning bolt that creates 3 tornadoes inside one another, hitting everything multiple times within its area, which is slightly larger to Crimson Ray's. Possibly the hardest hitting Ougi if you exclude a Fire enhanced Ray or a Sealing Circle. Note that by casting Fuujin/Raijin up from an edge or cliff-like structure you can actually cover a larger area as the 3 tornadoes are cast with different angles from a common point of origin. Consequently, and similar to a trilateration proccess, the hardest hitting spot is the intersection of the 3 circular areas when using the latter method. Quite hard hitting when used with a Gravitas. Note that this is also the only spell in the game with a 50/50 elemental composition, which works both as a benefit and a hindrance.
God-sealing Circle - Slow cast speed Holy Element spell that summons an incredibly large circular area beneath and centered on you to land consecutive and exponentially (or linearly, yet to confirm the exact values) increasing in damage waves the more the animation progresses. You cannot be flinched or knocked out of it so this is either a kill or be killed spell. Expect major ammounts of damage (and deaths if you misplace it or don't precast it) from this IF you manage to stay alive long enough. A precast Sealing Circle is your best bet here as you will end up dealing the majority of the damage from the last few waves, and staggering enemies that enter the circle preventing them to approach you. If you are planning to use this as a primary damage source a Chian Magatama might come in handy. Increased area when ranked up to 6.
.gif provided by Momiji, thanksLight of Destruction - Extremely slow cast time Ougi that fires off a massive beam of lightning in front of you to hit everything that makes contact with it. Single combo and multi hit skill. Decent in damage when used with extra Lightning Element but its durability consumption is crazy high: 50/60/70 depending on rank. This fact alone makes this Ougi practically useless when compared to the others' damage/durability usage ratio, even Sealing Circle. Use it at your own risk.
Magnifier Curse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEdPhRa0k_A
Magatama Usage
As far as reliable builds go you might want to opt for one of the three main sets: the full powerhouse, the typical Chian + 3x Skill Force Magatama or the quad hybrid Skill Force Magatama + Extend Heal path.
Let us start with the latter as it is a very decent all around build. This one set lacks the survivability a Chian provides BUT uses powerful Extend Heals to make up for it. It totals an aproximate value of 160% Skill Force for Wands and 152% for Staves. Offensive Staff as an alternate/side weapon yeeeeey! You can and should ornament all the 4 magatama with Fated Contractors until you are satisfied with your SP/HP pools and Critical hit rate. Once you hit those values, Heavenly Shields should be your secondary ornamentations in order to boost the Elements of your current skillset. Can you guess whata re those 4 Magatama? Yes, Magic Magatama; and 4 of it. They provide a decent SF ammont for your primary wands and let you Extend Heal for over 5000 HP while doing so assuming you were lucky enough to stack some Holy Element. One of my favourite builds and a pretty reliable one too. This one build also allows for a double or triple Hellfire Inti Raimi (considering we can only extract skills up to rank 5 currently) plus double Crimson Ray skill sets if you feel like having a quick cast and swift build to pick enemies off one by one.
The second set would be the mainstream Chian with double Confining Terror + 3 SF Magatama, Lord Enmas this time. Same ornamentation pattern as the above build. The only real reason to use this build over the first one is the 156-168% SF modifier and the self sustaining factor provided by Chian. The only downside of this one should be the inability to use rank 5 skills in your Wands and the neglectable 0-12% SF for Staves.
The final build is your powerhouse build. 4 Lord Enma Magatama yet again ornamented with Fated Contractors and Heavenly Shields. A total of 208% (213% with a +100'd weapon) SF modifier for Wands is enough to drill a hole on your foes, let alone whatever Element affinities you might have other than the 30% Holy. Be ready to kite your way out of dugeons as you will have no means to heal yourself other than your party's support or Nigiri.
Stat Points
There really is not much you can do here. Not much flexibility. Get as much Wisdom as you need, above 100 total though, to increase your affinity up to your current or pretended cap, taking in consideration the Holy Element/Tachi/Staff/Wand affinity title. You can skip this title but it is really not worth doing so since it provides a massive boost to your overall and especially Holy skills' damage. Second stat? Mind. In all honesty I do believe you could not go wrong with a straight maxed out Mnd stat given the fact that Wands are really SP hungry. Try and balance this out until you are satisfied with your SP regen/cooldown reduction/SP pool and Meditation values. The leftovers are pure preference: Dexterity if you are lacking on Critical rate/cooldown reduction/attack speed (yes attack speed does alter your spell animation frames and consequently the time taken to deal damage) or Vitality for a higher HP pool. Don't get into Power unless you really want the extra attack speed. Wis > Mnd > Dex should be the main set to follow for a reliable ammount of SP without sacrificing too much DPS.
Update Log
*first version of the guide completed
*corrected a few English spelling mistakes
