I am trying to make a nasty shadow mage, and I would like to figure out what to do and what not to do.

I am almost purely int, every 2 lvls i put 9 in int 1 in end...

Now what exactly should i go for? is the improved lightning really worth the lost skill slot? should i have all 3 passives on at once? im basically looking for tips on how to fine tune a shadow mage for grouping, not solo, and i still wanna do tons of dmg

Improved Shadow Lightning is more damage and is worth the slot.

Three passives? There's really only two that make you a mage. The one that gives 100% mana per int and the one that gives 20% spell damage. The other one that gives slightly more mana is more of a small bonus for other warrior/ranger types imo. Because more mana is basically not going to do anything in a potion spammer game. Just carry potions. Buy a billion of them.

9 int and 1 endurance every 2 levels is fine imo. It means you'll end up with 450 int and 50 endurance. I'm going 3 int 2 endurance just for a little extra HP.

You want to get all the shadow spells and then fill the rest up with AoE. That means get Ring of Fire and Gaseous Blast. Fireball is good for shadow resistant monsters (you will have times you need it) and it comes with an extra long range for pulling stuff from far away (which comes in handy for a barrage of Shadowbolts right after one Fireball, as Shadowbolts have short range).

You can build your character more like a warrior also if you want to and get Holy Roller and that aoe knockdown but that means less damage. Plus, you want a Shadow Wizard right? Not some silly Paladin.

I think the int/end is up to personal preference.

My shadow mage is level 46 and my skill setup is this:
left click: shadow lightning
right click: shadowbolt
skillbar: gaseous blast, righteous stomp, unnerving shout, shadow word: smackdown, dark wizardry, improved shadow lightning, mental prowess, bookworm.

I think improved shadow lightning is a must have skill. I notice it proc a lot and i can't complain about the extra damage it gives. Righteous stomp and unnerving shout are for survivability.

Don't forget soul rend, shadow bolt IS a close range spell and once you get swarmed in boss fights, Soul Rend is a great way to take down a boss. I don't even worry about endurance as much as I worry about AGI, which ensures I hit when I *do* swing my staff which btw has ludacrous speed and Soul Rend recycles quite fast. It's a nice big hit to take down bosses fast. Just think of it like this:
Fireball to pull, shadow lightning/gaseous blast/cicrle of fire, then once the boss is all that's left, soul rend a couple times to catch up. Everyone is saying this is a potion dump game...I don't even use them

Well... I set off to achieve as much damage as possible with my SMage.

I'm lvl 32 atm and have every point in Int.
Im' also rockin:

Mental Prowess, Bookworm, Couch Potato, Gym Freak, Imp Shadow Lighting, Gaseous Blast, Ring of Fire, and Righteous Stomp. Shadow Lighting, and Shadow Bolt as clickers.

At first glance I think it's a little different but it works great. At lvl 32 my Shadow Lighting's top end is in the 1,900's unbuffed. The reason I use Gym Freak is because even with it on my bar I have over 16,000 mana and it helps my health allot.

All my gear is Int and Plus Shadow Dam, very little if any endurance.

Don't laugh before you try it. I usually 1-2 shot everything in the room with Shadow Lighting alone. Add in my other 3 AoE spells and by the time I shoot 2 Shadow Lightning's(3 seconds?) the room is cleared...

-Adelphi

Edited by Adelphi (06/12/07 03:41 PM)

I agree with you. My shadow mage is set up very similarly. I do have to try gym freak on him though. I never have to spam a mana pot and only carry carry 1 stack because I think it is just wrong for a mage to run around with none. The only time I run into problems is if a group has shadow resistance. At this point I have to rely on my other AOE spells and run a little bit to kill the room.

I never thought about soul rend in my build... doubt im going to do it though, i dont wanna use up a slot with it, and i dont wanna have to put points in agi. I will just put more aoes in

And if you add agility, you might as well equip a good bow and use poison shot instead

With regular dungeons and mobs I do fine with SL and Imp SL, but in HDoL the 139 mana per extra bolt sucks away my 7000 pool of mana really fast.

I think I'll take off improved shadow lightning... it's not earning it's keep anymore.