Shining Soul/Wizard


 * 0. Table of Contents **

0) Table of Contents 1) Faq history 2) Wizard description 3) Pro's and Con's of Wizards 4) Starting and Maximum Status 5) Stats description 6) Skills 7) Buildup Advice 8) Legal 9) Contact 10) Thanks


 * 2. Wizard description **

Wizards are the only class in Shining Soul that can use magic. Wizards wield the power of the elements and can devastate enemies with fireballs, lightning bolts, and more. Wizards have focused their energy on a mastery of magic and are unable to use most armor and weapons. Wizards do not equip conventional weapons but instead wield spell books. Actually, they're spell scrolls...but the sprite looks like a book, so that's what I call them.


 * 3. Pros and cons of Wizards **

Although needing SP in order to damage puts wizards at a disadvantage, wizard attacks tend to be better than the attacks of other classes. Wizard attacks do medium to high damage, have long range, and are easily able to attack many enemies at once. Although wizards are unable to wear the best armor, they rarely get close enough to their enemies to take damage. The elemental nature of wizard attacks can be both a blessing and a curse. Many enemies do not take much damage from certain elements. However, some enemies take extra damage from certain elements.

Because wizards do not use high quality weapons and armor, they have even less monetary needs than the other three classes. You can freely spend as much money as you wish on items and armor once you complete a couple dungeons or so.


 * 4. Starting and maximum Status**

Initial Status and equipment: STR: 5 VIT: 10 INT: 20 DEX: 10 HP: 22 SP: 40 1 Blaze Scroll 1 Freeze Scroll 1 Robe 1 Goddess Tear 1 Herb 1 Angel Wing

Maximum Status STR: 50 VIT: 100 INT: 305 DEX: 150


 * 5. Stats description **

STR: Strength is of little use to a wizard. It has no impact on attack strength. However, strength is necessary in order to equip stronger armor. Even a high level wizard generally will only need 10-15 strength in order to equip acceptable armor.

VIT: Vitality directly affects the maximum HP of the wizard. Each point of vitality increases maximum HP by 2. Also, each increase in level increases maximum HP by 2. Thus, a wizard's maximum HP= 2 * ( Level + VIT ).

INT: Intelligence affects spell damage and maximum SP. Each point of INT increases max SP by 1. Thus, a wizard's maximum SP= 2 * INT. It might also affect how quickly your SP recharges.

DEX: In theory dexterity improves attack rate and evasion rate. However, wizard spells never miss (I.e. hit the enemy but do no damage). Do not put any stat points into DEX if you are a wizard.


 * 6. Skills **

Wizards have 8 different skills which they can increase. Every skill relates to a different spell.

Chart of skill level ups Level      Number of skill points        Total skill points 0          0                             0 1           1                             1 2           2                             3 3           3                             6 4           4                             10 5           5                             15

Skills: Each level up of any skill increases the maximum charge of the spell. Spells are generally almost useless if you don't charge them up. Charging a spell up farther does not affect the SP cost of the spell.

BLAZE: 14 power, costs 3 SP This spell shoots balls of fire. Each increase in charge increases damage, range, and size of fireball. When charged, this spell pierces enemies, allowing it to hit multiple enemies in one shot.

FREEZE: 13 power, costs 4 SP This spell shoots balls of ice. Sometimes, enemies will be temporarily frozen by this spell. Each increase in charge increases damage, range, and size of iceball.

SPARK: 17 power, costs 5 SP This spell causes lightning bolts to strike enemies. Each increase in charge increases damage and range. Unlike other spells, spark targets enemies independently. As a result, it is possible to hit many enemies within sight at once, even if they are not close together. Illustration: P: Player E: Enemy -,/,\: Direction of shot

E / / P \ \  E

Projectile spells can still hit multiple enemies if there was a setup like this:

PEE-E

This is slightly less of a problem when spells are charged up since they become larger.

BLAST: 5 power, costs 4 SP This spell shoots a tornado which follows enemies around. Each increase in charge increases damage, duration, and size of tornado. Blast is the only Wizard ability which can hit an individual enemy more than once in one shot. However, it doesn't do very much damage. This spell might be good when it's charged to level 5.

INFERNO: 20 power, costs 7 SP This spell hits all enemies that are near the wizard, even if the wizard is not facing them. Each increase in charge increase damage and range.

RES: n/a power, costs 5 SP This spell temporarily increases the player's resistance against magic (i.e. Fire, ice, and lightning resist). Please be aware that RES has no affect unless you use a scroll of resist. The in-game skill description is a bit misleading. Each increase in charge increases the amount resistance is increases. Note that casting this spell after it has already been cast will negate the previous casting of it (i.e. if you charge it and then recast, your RES will go down).

HEAL: "1-1" power, costs 10 SP This spell heals the player. Each increase in charge increases the amount the spell will heal.

SLOW: n/a power, costs 12 SP This spell causes all monsters to slow down, but it doesn't always work. Each increase in charge increases the chance of this spell working. I think it also increases how much the spell slows down enemies and maybe increases it's range.


 * 7. Buildup Advice **

Stats: Ignore DEX. Your VIT should probably be about half as high as your INT. If you're skilled, making your VIT a bit lower will speed up the game. It is quite possible to get away with never upgrading your VIT at all, but I wouldn't advise it. STR should be increased only if you need it to wear new armor. It will probably never exceed 15, unless you come across something really nice.

Skills: Don't use RES, HEAL, or SLOW. Wizards are designed for ranged combat and generally won't be able to take full advantage of support and healing skills. Also, healing using items is much easier than using a healing spell and you'll generally be able to afford as many healing supplies as you want after the first few dungeons. I suggest picking two skills and sticking with them. You need two skills because some monsters won't take very much damage from some skills. I suggest FLAME (because you start with a book for it) and SPARK. Both do reasonable damage. SPARK does use up SP a little bit fast early on in the game, but later this stopped being a serious issue. Besides, SP-restoring items are cheap and wizards are rich. SPARK is very effective on some of the later bosses because it hits instantly and thus cannot be dodged by bosses that disappear or hide or float or whatever. This is also true of Inferno.

Branden (dtrmnd2wn@yahoo.com) writes that he prefers inferno for its higher range and damage. He states that he did not run into any SP problems with this spell. If you plan to use inferno, it might be a good idea to try to avoid spending more than a couple skill points early on; You generally won't be able to pick up inferno at the beginning of the game.

Secret Books: If you give ORE to the smith in the lower right corner of town, he might make you a special scroll. Scrolls made of ore are much better than their parchment counterparts. In addition to a stat bonus, secret scrolls can cast spells with a lower SP cost.

Special Scroll Types     Forged With   Bonus Effects Secret Scroll            Mithril       INT+10, Used SP-1 Holy Scroll              Orihalcon     DEF+10, INT+10, Used SP-1 Sorcery Scroll           Dark Matter   INT+10, Used SP-2, Cursed