Black Desert Online NA/EU Alpha just ended on 2nd Nov 2015. Among the classes available are Warrior, Ranger, Sorceress, Berserker and Wizard. Among these classes, Wizard is the latest class, merely introduced in Black Desert Korea early this year. I am actually quite surprised that Wizard is released in the alpha.
I have played Warrior and Ranger in the Korean CBT last year. Therefore, i decided to try out a different class this time: Wizard. Since the alpha is merely 1 week, I will only briefly introduce the class and the skills from my experience with low level game play (lv15). Feel free to leave comments and feedback if you have played the class at higher level or even at end-game in other versions of BDO.
The official introduction for Wizard at character selection screen:
"Wizards are known for their prudence in battle. In return of casting time lag, they perform large-scaled magic attacks. Their thorough move will burn, freeze and shatter their enemies with the power of natural elements such as fire, water and wind, and finally drive foes into checkmate."
The chart at character selection show that the class has high attack and decent evasion, easy to play but possesses lesser combo and low defence.
Basic Skill IntroductionStaff Attack I
Attacks enemy with a staff with magical power.
LMB (left mouse button).
Damage 100%. Forward attack 100% x 2 hits. Accuracy + 4%. MP 5 recovery per hit. Down Attack.
Comment: I don't really use this much; the damage is low. It recovers 5 Mp per hit, but wizard has better ways to recover MP. It is a "Down Attack" which means that it deals 1.5x damage on knockdown targets.
Magical Arrow I
Makes magic power into arrows to shoot.
RMB (right mouse button). Require 2MP.
Damage 108%. 10% chance to critical hit, Accuracy +2.5%, Up to 2 targets. Endurance consumed if you move during the attack.
Comment: Low damage but can be cast successively by holding down RMB. You can also move while casting. Good for finishing off enemies with bits of left-over HP after using a high damage AOE skills. The damage is increased as you level up ( up to 300% at max), with increased critical rate ( up to 30%) and more targets (up to 7 targets).
Concentration Magical Arrow I
Draws magical power to shoot an arrow with it.
Activated with LMB+ RMB. Shoot if left or right button is not pressed. Required 40MP. CD 5sec.
Damage 635% x 2 hits. 20% chance of critical hit. Accuracy + 7.5%. Up to 3 targets. Induce Rigidity if the hits is successful. Rigidity effect is not available when used during the cool down time. Down Attack.
Comment: Requires a short charging time. The damage and accuracy seems to be pretty good. The skill will induce Rigidity, which is sort of like a mini paralysis effect. The damage increases significantly as you level it up: 899% x 2 hits , 40% critical rate, extra damage equal to 3.5% of Max MP, with up to 5 targets.
Fire Ball I
Shoot a powerful fireball to attack enemies.
Down + LMB. Can be used instantly by right-clicking while casting. Require 10MP. CD 5sec.
Damage 322% x 2 hits. Accuracy + 2.5%. Up to 4 targets. Burn damage -15 every 3sec for 9sec. Knockdown if a hit succeeds. Down attack. If unmounted, the Fireball buff is applied, which lasts for 7sec after using Fireball. Damage reduced if used instantly while casting.
Comment: The fully charged fire ball takes awhile to cast. However, you can do a quick-cast by right-clicking during the charging process, with a lower damage. The AOE is pretty good, up to 4 targets with knockdown effect. As you level up the skill, the damage and number of targets increase, but the burn damage remains stagnant. The skill applies a Fire ball buff, which grants a fire visual effect to your hands after casting. The Fire ball buff allows you to cast the follow up skill,
Fire Ball Explosion (which I have not learned yet).
Dagger Stab I
Imbue magical power into the dagger to attack the enemy.
F. CD 20sec
Damage 550% x 2. Critical hit 100% with each hit. Rigidity with each successful hit. Accuracy +4%. Critical hits doesn't apply and the damage dramatically decreases during the cool down time. The cool down time won't be reset. Counter Attack.
Comment: I don't really use this skill much though the damage looks pretty high on paper. The CD is too long and the range is very short. However, it is a counter-attack, which means it does additional 2 times damage when the skill hits your target who is using a skill.
Magical Evasion I
Dodge quickly in all directions using magical power
Shift + arrow key.
Consume 250 stamina.
Comment: Leveling the skill reduces the amount of stamina consumed.
Teleport I
Instantly teleports within range using magical power.
Shift + Space bar. Require 50 MP. CD 9sec.
Movement Speed + 10% for 10sec. Invincible until the character appears again.
Comment: The MP consumption is pretty steep for this skill. However, it grants an invincibility to Wizard for a short period of time and allows you to teleport away if you are cornered by mobs. Leveling the skill reduces the CD and increases the teleport distance. MP cost remains the same.
Magical Shield I
Using magical power, it turns a certain amount of the damage the character received into Mana, reducing the maximum damage.
Q. CD 1min 15sec
Consume MP equal to 25% of damage for 30sec. All Resistance +6% for 30sec.
Comment: The shield reduces the damage received and turns it to MP consumption instead. At higher level, it can reduce up to 40% damage and increase +15% resistance. I guess this skill will keep you alive in tough situations, but it burns your MP pretty fast if you are hit frequently.
Mana Absorption I
Takes opponent's mana to recover the character's mana.
Shift + LMB. Require 200 MP. CD 15sec.
Target MP - 20%. Absorbs 20% of the target's MP. Damage 625% per finishing blow. Movement speed -50% for 4sec on successful hit
Comment: A good skill to recover MP, by sucking your target's MP :D. It deals damage as well, on the finishing blow. However, you can't move while channeling the skill. Wizard is pretty much a self-sustaining class with the capability to recover MP over prolonged battle, without relying too much on potion.
Lightning Chain I
Shift + RMB. Hold RMB to use it successively. Require 20 MP.
Damage 161% x 4 hits. Able to use up to 2 times in a row. Accuracy +2.5%. Up to 3 targets. Induce Rigidity if a hit succeeds. If unmounted, Lightning Storm buff is effective, which lasts for 7 seconds after using Lightning Chain. All targets are electrocuted and slowed down. Damage slightly reduced if used successively.
Comment: I don't like this skill. It leaves you very vulnerable while channeling it. I guess it can be used effectively if you are in a party with someone else tanking the enemies. The Lightning Storm buff allows you to cast a more powerful
Lightning Storm skill, which deals good damage in large AOE. Unfortunately, my level is too low to learn Lightning Storm.
Thunderbolt I
Drops a strong lightning from the sky to attack the enemies.
Down + F. Require 20 MP. CD 7sec.
Damage 279% x 3 hits. Faint effect if a hit succeeds. Down Attack. All targets are electrocuted and slowed down. When used during cool down time, faint effect not available.
Comment: This seems to be a pretty good skill without much charging time. It induces Faint effect on targets and deals additional damage on knockdown enemies. Thunderbolt can be followed up with
Lightning Residue (not learned yet) to deal even more damage.
Freezing I
Performs a strong chill attack to the enemies within small range. The enemies become frozen.
Down + E. Require 30 MP. CD 8sec
Damage 153% x 3 hits. Accuracy + 10%. Up to 2 targets. Freezing if a hit succeeds.
Comment: The damage is lower than other basic elemental skills, but it induces Freeze status. The casting animation is also one of the fastest among the other basic elemental skills.
Speed Spell I
Uses the magical power for self and friends nearby to raise the attack, casting and movement speeds.
Can be used with Quick Slot. Require 120 MP. CD 1min 30sec
Attack speed, movement speed and casting speed for players and friends increase by 10% for 30sec.
Comment: One of the 1st party buff which a wizard learns. At max level, it provides up to 20% speed buff to you and your allies for 30sec. CD is reduced to 50sec at max level (III).
Earth Response I
While swiftly dodging left and right, strongly strikes the ground to attack the enemy ahead with protruding rocks.
Left or Right + LMB. Requires 30 MP. CD 4sec.
Damage 223% x 2 hits. Lift if a hit succeeds. Accuracy +5%. Up to 3 targets.
Comments: The skill can be cast quickly while you are evading. The damage is decent, but the AOE is smaller than it looks. It requires you to be quite close to the target to land.
Healing Aura I
Recovers a certain amount of friends' HP.
E. CD 15sec.
Recover HP and MP of self and friends by 12%.
Comment: This is another party support skill which can be learned at low level. Recover both HP and MP by 12%, with 15sec CD. At max level (V), the HP/MP recovery is increased to 20% with 10sec CD.
Conclusion
Overall, Wizard is a spell caster class with many party support, HP/MP recovery skills (even Revive skill at high level). This is a class I would probably enjoy playing since I have always favored supportive role in the party. However, most of the damage skills require relatively longer casting or channeling time, as compared to the other classes. Some higher level skills are not listed here simply because i have yet to learn them yet. I might cover higher level skills when the beta with longer test period is available.
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