Keep and upgrade the wand, or get a different one?

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Yanm wrote on 2010-11-21 02:42

Hello everyone. I've thought about proffing and upgrading a 18 dur Crystal Lightning Wand I got from Neid (Back when we still had the boss schedules....whatever happened to them anyway?). However, I've heard and read mixed reviews on these. I've seen them in action, noting the extra speed and calculating the mana reduction, but....are they really worth it compared to a normal Lightning Wand? Should I try to sell it instead and just proff up a normal lightning wand?
EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-11-21 04:21

I like them more comparing to the Lightning Wand. I just get the max mana reduction and damage reduction upgrades for it, and use it as my regular wand for Thunder.
mab wrote on 2010-11-21 06:15

I have a speedcast crystal wand and I like it over my lightning wand. 18 dur upgraded wands will last a long time... Seems a bit of a shame to not upgrade it yourself.
If you plan to (or already have) TH at a decent rank, then I'd recommend the crystal wand.
Yanm wrote on 2010-11-21 15:28

I see. Well, this would be for the future, as my Thunder is rF for the time. I'd still like to hear some counterarguments about the normal lightning wand, but, I'm not sure whether to get the max mana reduction for the wand, or speed. Each Adv Wand seems to fit their spells purpose. Phoenix takes away fireballs slow load time, Crown makes Ice Spear's damage go up a lot, and the Crystal would make Thunder more mana friendly, for first charges anyway. However, that damage reduction seems like -300 or so, and would the less mana cost overpower the faster Thunder cast speed, even though it's from 3.5 seconds to 3 seconds?
Yanm wrote on 2010-11-24 21:35

Anybody? Tomorrow is the event and prof day. Epic proffing is epic.
pkMaster wrote on 2010-11-24 21:54

It really depends on your play style. It's true thought that a lot of thunder mages prefer using a crystal thunder wand over the normal one because of the increase in either mana efficiency, reduced casting time or a combination of both. The normal thunder wand is really only good for chaincasting, but then there aren't really any situations where you'd find yourself using chaincasted lightning bolt on any monster/group of monsters. So I'll say go for a crystal wand.
Yanm wrote on 2010-11-24 23:03

Quote from pkMaster;227574:
It really depends on your play style. It's true thought that a lot of thunder mages prefer using a crystal thunder wand over the normal one because of the increase in either mana efficiency, reduced casting time or a combination of both. The normal thunder wand is really only good for chaincasting, but then there aren't really any situations where you'd find yourself using chaincasted lightning bolt on any monster/group of monsters. So I'll say go for a crystal wand.

I agree with that. Crystal Lightning Wand it is, but....hmmm. If I calculated correctly, the max mana reduction with the gem upgrade will make the first charge cost 23 mana? With the speed upgrade, the first charge is around 32 I think...in the 30s I'll just say. Any opinions on which path is better?
Justified wrote on 2010-11-24 23:58

Quote from Yanm;227678:
I agree with that. Crystal Lightning Wand it is, but....hmmm. If I calculated correctly, the max mana reduction with the gem upgrade will make the first charge cost 23 mana? With the speed upgrade, the first charge is around 32 I think...in the 30s I'll just say. Any opinions on which path is better?

Normal = 3000dmg, 17.5s, 110mp
(171.43dmg/s, 27.3dmg/mp, 6.3mp/s)

151 Mana Cost = 1950dmg, 17.5s, 66mp
(111.43dmg/s, 29.54dmg/mp, 3.77mp/s)

178 Speed Cast = 2580dmg, 15.4s, 92.4mp
(167.53dmg/s, 27.92dmg/mp, 6mp/s)

Is this the comparison you were looking for?
As you can see, upgrades for the Crystal Wand will always reduce damage over time. Both upgrades will increase damage per mana (though not by much), as well as mana usage over time (not significant for speedcast). Speedcast comes in handy because you don't want to be stuck charging for too long if things are swarming all over the place (if you had idle time then Fireball is way better). On the other hand, mana reduction is good for anything except finishing the task quickly, as it'll boost your mana efficiency for both damage and time.

Though, you could get a cheap -16% mana Lightning Wand at no damage or speed loss, so it still has some use.

96 Lightning Wand = 3000dmg, 17.5s, 92.4mp
(171.43dmg/s, 32.47dmg/mp, 5.28mp/s)
Yanm wrote on 2010-11-25 03:28

Quote from Justified;227829:
Normal = 3000dmg, 17.5s, 110mp
(171.43dmg/s, 27.3dmg/mp, 6.3mp/s)

151 Mana Cost = 1950dmg, 17.5s, 66mp
(111.43dmg/s, 29.54dmg/mp, 3.77mp/s)

178 Speed Cast = 2580dmg, 15.4s, 92.4mp
(167.53dmg/s, 27.92dmg/mp, 6mp/s)

Is this the comparison you were looking for?
As you can see, upgrades for the Crystal Wand will always reduce damage over time. Both upgrades will increase damage per mana (though not by much), as well as mana usage over time (not significant for speedcast). Speedcast comes in handy because you don't want to be stuck charging for too long if things are swarming all over the place (if you had idle time then Fireball is way better). On the other hand, mana reduction is good for anything except finishing the task quickly, as it'll boost your mana efficiency for both damage and time.

Though, you could get a cheap -16% mana Lightning Wand at no damage or speed loss, so it still has some use.

96 Lightning Wand = 3000dmg, 17.5s, 92.4mp
(171.43dmg/s, 32.47dmg/mp, 5.28mp/s)

Just what I was looking for. You did a much better job than me x_x. After looking over this, I decided to go with the speed casting. +Rep for you Justin :D
Archibald wrote on 2010-11-25 16:28

This isn't really a question. Do the 18 dura crystal wand. I'm a mage and you what I use for normal lightening wands? Chaincast them for when i do HW at bangor. Thats it. Everything else is crystal wand. The speed MORE than makes up for anything it lacks.