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The Wizard class is one of the default classes in Dark and Darker and is one of the few spellcasters in the game. Wizards, however, are glass cannons, but they do wield powerful offensive and defensive spells that can give skilled players an edge during combat. In this guide, we will provide information on the class’s capabilities, skills, spells, and passives, as well as some builds to help you get started.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The class has access to powerful spells and unique access to both staves and melee weapons, making it a fairly versatile class to play with. If played right, Wizards can become offensive powerhouses in a raid. However, to offset their magic, they have a very low base health pool and weak base physical damage. If playing with a team, Wizards are prone to friendly fire due to their many AoE spells.
All Wizard Skills
Skills make up the core gameplay that defines a class in Dark and Darker. These allow a class to live up to its identity, granting bonuses for playing the class the way it is meant to be played. For the Wizard, much of it revolves around spell casting. Each class in the game can equip 2 skills.
- Arcane Shield
- Gain a personal shield that absorbs 20 damage from all sources for 12 seconds. Once the shield is broken, the shield releases a magical blast that deals 5 magic to enemies within a 2-meter radius.
- Intense Focus
- The cast time of your next spell is reduced by 0.1 seconds.
- Meditation
- Enter a state of meditation to restore 34 spell points within a 24-second duration. The amount of spell points restored is not affected by casting speed bonuses.
- Spell Memory 1 and Spell Memory 2
- Gain the ability to memorize 5 spells for each Spell Memory slot.
Best Skill Build
When picking some skills for your Wizard character, prioritize getting Spell Memory 1 and Meditation, as having a handful of damage spells that are ready on demand will go a long way in a raid. Since Meditation helps you restore your spells quicker, this will allow you to use your spells more often.
Perks
Perks are Dark and Darker’s passive traits that enhance a class’ overall gameplay style. Each class can slot only up to 4 perks once they reach the maximum level. These are the perks available to the Wizard class:
- Arcane Feedback
- When you deal damage with a spell, gain a stacking bonus that grants 2% spell-casting speed and 2% magic damage bonus per stack for 7 seconds. This skill can stack up to 5 times, and the duration is reset for every stack that is gained.
- Arcane Mastery
- Gain a 5% arcane magical damage bonus and reduce the cast time of arcane spells by 0.5 seconds.
- Fire Mastery
- Gain a 5% fire magical damage bonus. Applied burns last 2 seconds longer and reduce the burnt target’s incoming physical healing by 50% and magical healing by 50% for 5 seconds.
- Ice Mastery
- Striking an enemy with ice magic will immobilize them for 0.5 seconds.
- Ice Shield
- Gain a 20 armor rating and inflict frostbite on melee attacks, causing them to lose 20% movement speed and 20% action speed for 0.5 seconds. Does not inflict while on cooldown
- Mana Surge
- Gain a 10% magical damage bonus.
- Melt
- Dealing fire damage to an enemy reduces their physical defense by 10% for 5 seconds.
- Quick Chant
- Gain 10% spell-casting speed.
- Reactive Shield
- Activates an arcane reactive shield that lasts for 3 seconds when you take damage. The arcane shield can absorb 15 total Physical and Magical Damage. The shield can only reactivate after a cooldown of 12s.
- Spell Overload
- Reduces the memory allocation of all spells by 60% and increases all spell charges by 60%.
- Staff Mastery
- All staff-type weapons gain 1 additional magic damage.
- Sage
- Gain a 10% bonus to Knowledge.
Best Perk Combos
For players just starting with a Wizard character, the best starting perk to choose would be Sage, as the increase in cast speed, extra spell slots, and spell point recovery are vital to increasing your offensive power in this class. Once you are fully leveled and have enough points in Knowledge, the best possible perks for the endgame would be Arcane Mastery, Fire Mastery, Sage, and Quick Chant.
Spell Mechanics
Spells are your primary source of damage and support in Dark and Darker. There is no conventional mana system in the game; instead, an internal cooldown for each spell is used, called Spell Points. Every spell has a set number of charges, and once all these charges are used up, the spell goes on cooldown. These spells have variable Spell Points, which your character regenerates over time. The more Spell Point recovery you have, the faster your spells will come off cooldown.
How Does Spell Memory Work?
Spell Memory is essential for the Wizard class as this stat dictates how many spells you can use. Any spell beyond the Spell Memory threshold will be unusable. Every spell belongs in a Tier and occupies that many Memory slots. Here is the list of spells for the Wizard class
Tier 1 spells
- Zap
- Deal 20 magical damage that burns a target for 1 fire damage.
- Light Orb
- Releases a magical ball of light that illuminates dark areas.
Tier 2 spells
- Magic Lock
- Doors and chests will be magically locked for 20 seconds.
- Slow
- Slows a target’s movement speed bonus by 40% for 2.5 seconds.
- Ignite
- Heats the metal of a target weapon, which deals 5 fire damage per second and burns
- Ice Bolt
- Deal 30 magic damage and reduce the target’s movement and action speed bonus by 20% for 1 second.
Tier 3 spells
- Magic Missile
- Fire up to 10 homing missiles that deal 9 magic damage per hit. Can be canceled upon moving.
- Haste
- Grants an ally target 5% move speed bonus, 10% action speed, and 10% spell casting speed for 8 seconds. Will be casted on self if no targets are available
Tier 4 spells
- Lightning Strike
- Casts a bolt of lightning that falls in the targeted area after a 4-second delay, electrocuting enemies. Deals 30 magic damage and reduces enemy movement speed bonus by 20% for 1 second.
- Invisibility
- Grants the target invisibility for 4 seconds, along with 5% movement speed while active. Will be cast on self if no targets are available.
- Fireball
- Shoot a burning fireball, dealing 25 magic damage on impact to a target and 10 splash damage that knocks back targets caught in the blast.
Tier 5 spells
- Explosion
- Casts an explosion in a targeted area after a 3-second delay, dealing magic damage and leaving behind a 1m patch of flame that burns targets standing on it.
Tier 6 spells
- Chain Lightning
- Electrocutes the target, dealing 35 magical damage, which can chain to 3 additional targets within 8 meters of each other. The chained lightning will not hit the same target twice and will hit the caster if they are near the first target. Enemies hit by this spell will have their movement speed reduced by 20% for 1 second.
Best Wizard Spells To Bring
The best general-use spells for any scenario are Haste, Ignite, Invisibility, Magic Missile, and Lightning Strike, as these will cover all bases for you and your team. Haste allows your team to push and chase down other teams, Invisibility throws off your opponents, Ignite places guaranteed damage on a player and soften them up for a kill, Magic Missile directs ranged DPS, and Lignting Strike slows fleeing players.
Wizard Exclusive Weapons
Despite the class’ propensity for spell casting, they can also handle themselves decently in melee combat, though they lack the defensive and physical power of the Fighter and all other dedicated melee classes. Still, the Wizard weapon will still do fine in a pinch, but you ideally should rely on your spells to kill tougher targets. These are the current weapons exclusive to Wizards:
- Staff
- Spellbook
- Rondel Dagger + Crystal Ball
- Crystal Sword
- Crossbow
The starting staff weapon is very weak and should be immediately exchanged for a cheap spellbook. If you need a reliable melee weapon to use in case all your spells are on cooldown, use the Crystal Sword instead as its damage matches those of other standard melee weapons.
One aspect of spell casting with any weapon is that the spell will come from the tip of the weapon itself. This is called Casting Collision, where the longer your weapon is, the further the spell will come from. This makes any other weapon unwieldy to cast with, especially in close quarters. The Wizard’s spellbook is the ideal spell-casting tool as the spell comes from close to your character model, reducing the chances of your spell colliding with the architecture or your teammates.
Gear Stat Priorities
When gearing out your Wizard, certain stat affixes are more valuable than others, as you will need the statistical edge in a raid. Here are the best affixes that will greatly increase your overall power in combat:
- +All Attributes
- +Knowledge
- Additional Magic Damage
- Will/True Magic Damage
+All Stats is always a valuable enchantment to look for in gear. Another powerful affix would be +Knowledge, as the bonus cast speed, spell point regen, and memory slots will directly affect your offensive power. Additional Magic Damage is a good raw stat addition to your melee weapons since this can scale. Of course, True Magic Damage will help you ignore resistances and will help you kill otherwise tanky targets quicker.
Wizard Playstyle
The best scenario for a Wizard player is providing ranged backline support while on a team, as Wizards are very vulnerable in melee combat. You are responsible for buffing your teammates while pressuring the enemy team with your offensive spells. Experienced players will make good use of spacing to pepper melee players with magic while also mastering melee to block and dodge incoming attacks.
PvE
When dealing with weaker dungeon mobs like Goblins and Skeletons, you should save your spells and switch to your melee weapon, as your Spell Point recovery is quite low and will put you in a difficult position if you’re fighting a player without any spells ready. Not only that, spells have a distinct sound and will announce your position to other raiders who are listening for audio clues. Melee weapons are quieter and more efficient for killing regular monsters.
PvP
This is different once you’re facing another player. Use your spells as much as you can, as you have the range advantage and debuffs ready at hand. While fighting solo is viable for Wizards, they excel most in a team with a bit of coordination. Timing your buffs in the middle of a fight will tip the battle in your favor. Your Haste and Invisibility spells will help your melee party members a lot with the extra movement and attack speed. Meanwhile, your offensive spells have built-in debuffs, whether as a DoT or movement speed penalty, which further gives your team a better chance at winning a fight.
