The Usefulness of Wand Egos

• Justified wrote on 2010-05-21 10:29
  [UB]So I'm reaching the point in the game where my character's damage growth has become incredibly small - pretty much the only ways for me to get stronger are extremely AP intensive skills like Final Hit and Fireball, or extremely expensive enchants like Habit, Crocodile, or Wooden Needle. Both long processes that I'm not really enthusiastic about.
  
  Because of this, I've been thinking more and more about breaking my Ice Wand Ego which I've had for the past 1400 levels, my entire Mabi lifetime. While my stats aren't great, I'm not really a person who likes to stand around ego starving or spend thousands of gold just for like 0.5% of 1 damage boost.
  
  

  [Image: http://i47.tinypic.com/equr2w.jpg]

  
  
  The two major problems I have with my ego are...
  1. Ice Spear is considerably stronger with a Crown Ice Wand
  2. They are costly to repair, and the durability loss is massive since it's a wand
  
  There are only two real benefits to having it
  1. Spirit Awakening is bomb. Arguably better than Bows and by far better than Swords or Blunts.
  2. I gain roughly 30 damage per Icebolt. About a 25% damage boost. But only to Icebolt.
  
  
  I've been considering making either a Dustin Sword ego (when they come out) or a Dragon Blade ego (I have a 100 prof Blue one, and blue is cool yo).
  Both will have the same problem about pesky repairs (I'd probably try repairing both with the liqueur method), and it will be a while before they end up stronger than my modified x-140 damage Claymore (x-157 if I get Crocodile ES), so they'd still be relatively useless to me unless I somehow get them to 30+ Str, which I haven't even come close to on my wand.
  
  The last option is a Gladius ego, but seeing as how I never dual wield and don't have a counterpart to go with it, it's not so strong an option right now.
  
  Oh yea, and I didn't get a cool white DSKS so I'd have to spend a fortune on that.
  For Gladius I might look for a Purple/Pink one.
  
  Opinions?[/UB]
• Aubog007 wrote on 2010-05-21 10:50
  Gladius is always good with a Shield too.
  Gladius serves a multi purpose while DSKS and DB serve the high damage low defense route...
  I'm assuming you used to use your wand with a shield.
• Justified wrote on 2010-05-21 11:07
  I'm not too big on defense, but yea I have a shield to go with my wand.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2010-05-21 11:14

  Quote from Justified;40756:

  I'm not too big on defense, but yea I have a shield to go with my wand.

  
  
  What about cost efficiency? (repair wise)
• Justified wrote on 2010-05-21 11:22

  Quote from Aubog007;40759:

  What about cost efficiency? (repair wise)

  
  
  Referring to the Gladius?
  Out of all the things I like about the Gladius, that's what I like most about it - it's easy to repair. It's actually the reason I included it as an option.
  As far as use goes, I'm way more of a 2H person though.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2010-05-21 12:31

  Quote from Justified;40760:

  Referring to the Gladius?
  Out of all the things I like about the Gladius, that's what I like most about it - it's easy to repair. It's actually the reason I included it as an option.
  As far as use goes, I'm way more of a 2H person though.

  
  
  Choose what you feel is most comfortable.
  Not something you will regret later.
  I'm more of a 1H and dual-wielding kind of person. so i chose gladius.
• Archibald wrote on 2010-05-21 13:10
  Yea get rid of the wand. I've spent 2300 Ap on magic skills and see no good in the wand egos cept the firewand. As far as what you like remember no ego is really that good till you get the main + attack stats to 30. Before that pretty much any good enchanted weapon wins. If your a 2 hand type player get the dustin but be prepared to have some nx each week set aside. The pots arent that expensive though. If your a huge grinder and only use the 2 hander then expent to use 5-6 pots a week. Less if you vary yoru style or are more casual.
• Fumy wrote on 2010-05-21 13:42
  You don't really need NX Pots for a Dustin Sword.
  Sure making ego repair Dustins is expensive but you can repair 48(Will 1)-66(Will 40) Dura with 1 100 Prof Dustin Sword.
  If you buy 1 for 500k and prof it yourself without repairing(I profed 1 to 100 prof without repairing once)
  So it's 7576-10417 Gold each Dura
  Imo it could be worse and with Will lvl 50 you repair even cheaper.
  
  Btw howmany targets can you hit with ego wand awakening?
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-05-21 16:22
  If you like two-hander types, just go Dustin Sword, especially since you don't dual wield. DSK ego seems easier to repair than Dragon Swords, especially if you have a blacksmither friend that sells you cheap DSKs. The only problem is just waiting for it to be released, which in the meantime can just gather money/diamonds for it.
  
  If you not willing to actively feed it to raise the stats significantly higher than non-ego enchanted weapons, egos probably aren't worth it to you.
• shzukahime wrote on 2010-05-21 16:52
  Gladius will give you a much stronger wm. But if you tend to use a 2h more then go with it. DSKS > DB
• Justified wrote on 2010-05-21 17:16

  Quote from Archibald;40776:

  If your a huge grinder and only use the 2 hander then expent to use 5-6 pots a week. Less if you vary yoru style or are more casual.

  
  I'm not really looking to use NX repairs, I spend exclusively on pets and rebirth because nothing else seems worth it. It's rare for me to burn dur on my better gear, my accessories last around a month or more and my good weapons can go a week or two and only lose ~10 dur, so Liqueur repairs should get me by.
  
  

  Quote from Fumy;40778:

  (I profed 1 to 100 prof without repairing once)
  
  Btw howmany targets can you hit with ego wand awakening?

  
  I'm on to proffing up my fourth 18+ dur Claymore and I've never gotten 100 prof without repairs. Though, I'm age 17-20 and I use it in for normal tasks throughout the week.
  I'm assuming you use a 25+ prof mule on Thursdays?
  
  Wand Spirit Awakening shoots 6 lasers, each hitting up to 2 targets, so 12 total. If they're clumped together you can hit targets more than once, which is why I say it's better (it also does the most damage out of all of them at lower levels).
  
  

  Quote from shzukahime;40839:

  Gladius will give you a much stronger wm. But if you tend to use a 2h more then go with it. DSKS > DB

  
  Honestly, the only reason I'm considering DB ego is because I have the gacha blue one fully proffed.
  I like the damage and white version of the DKSK better as an ego choice overall. The cost for that is drastically higher though, especially since I'd want a white one.
  Gladius seems the most feasible given my resources.
• Fumy wrote on 2010-05-21 17:41

  Quote from Justified;40844:

  I'm on to proffing up my fourth 18+ dur Claymore and I've never gotten 100 prof without repairs. Though, I'm age 17-20 and I use it in for normal tasks throughout the week.
  I'm assuming you use a 25+ prof mule on Thursdays?
  
  Wand Spirit Awakening shoots 6 lasers, each hitting up to 2 targets, so 12 total. If they're clumped together you can hit targets more than once, which is why I say it's better (it also does the most damage out of all of them at lower levels).
  

  
  
  25 Year old Giant and Wisp Profing on thursdays^^ so it hits 12 targets doesn't it make Bow Awakening better 'cause it can hit 15 targets at r1
• Justified wrote on 2010-05-21 17:45

  Quote from Fumy;40852:

  25 Year old Giant and Wisp Profing on thursdays^^ so it hits 12 targets doesn't it make Bow Awakening better 'cause it can hit 15 targets at r1

  
  
  Situationally, yes Bows would be better.
  Wand has 100 min/max more at all ranks though, and more potential targets up until rank 5 when Bow starts hitting 12.
  Then again, that's assuming you can get 41+ social.
• Fumy wrote on 2010-05-21 17:57

  Quote from Justified;40853:

  Situationally, yes Bows would be better.
  Wand has 100 min/max more at all ranks though, and more potential targets up until rank 5 when Bow starts hitting 12.
  Then again, that's assuming you can get 41+ social.

  
  
  When picking an ego you should look at end game stats anyway :o
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-05-21 18:10
  I thought bow awakening range depends on bow range as well. Can ego wand awakening even reach that kind of range?