Overview

Welcome to our second class deep dive! We’re making great progress on the first four classes in our update queue, so keep an eye out for more of these posts in the near future.

Today we’ll be looking at the Wizard. We’ve already completed the work and are testing their new kit internally. We’re trying to iron out any bugs and oddities before bringing it to the beta servers, but even then, it’s inevitable that we’ll learn something new when it gets into the hands of thousands of players. Expect a bit of iteration as time goes on.

Our plan is to complete a solid first pass on all 18 classes, which involves getting the right abilities in place and making sure each class has its intended toolkit. While this phase does involve some tuning, we’ll certainly need to revisit each class afterward to ensure everything works well and they feel relatively balanced.

Once a set of changes reaches beta, expect further tweaks and tuning if anything turns out to be majorly wrong. There should be a quick turnaround if something’s outright broken, but otherwise, we'll move on to the next class in line with the goal of bringing all 18 to beta as quickly as we reasonably can.

Now, onto the Wizard.

There are a couple of items we mentioned in the initial Wizard class update post that have shifted somewhat.

We said:

• “Can summon useful items and teleport allies”

While Wizards can definitely teleport allies, we didn’t add any new summoned items in this round. Wizards still summon a short-duration light source, but that’s all for now. Once we finish more updates, we’d like to revisit summoned items across the board, particularly when it comes to the Elementalist.

• “Receives a portion of mana spent when delivering a killing blow with a spell”

This was an existing Wizard ability that we got a lot of feedback on—most of it negative. A common concern was that it felt too random or difficult to get a killing blow, particularly in group situations. Additionally, since the amount of mana returned was tied to damage done, crits and resists felt especially bad.

As a result, we’ve decided to move away from this mechanic and instead give Wizards a different way to gain bonus mana that feels within their control. Wizards still get some mana regeneration via a self-buff and from Arcane Invocation every few minutes, but now they’ll also be able to consume Mark of Magic stacks for an immediate mana return. We’ll tune this through playtesting, and look forward to your feedback after you get a chance to try it out.

• “Out of combat, Wizards can research and customize spells” 

As we worked through this one, we decided we want to include research as a broader crafting feature for multiple classes. Wizards will get research, but not as a class exclusive. Also, after including a total of 16 damage spell lines for the Wizard, we’re not sure there’s a lot of need to customize spells further. We can revisit this one if necessary in the future.

• “In combat, they can combine magical elements on the fly to adapt to the situation” 

This one we kept, and you can learn more about it in the Incantations section further down the page.

Let’s go over the major spell lines Wizards will have after this update.

Seal of Magic, Reclaim Magic, and Arcane Acceleration

Seal of Magic

• While Seal of Magic is active, every evocation spell you cast applies a stack of Mark of Magic to your target.

• Mark of Magic stacks up to 5 times, increasing the spell damage to that target with each stack.

• Volley spells apply one stack per missile; the highest-rank Arcane and Fire Volleys can apply all 5 stacks in a single cast.

Seal of Magic is a key part of the Wizard’s arsenal, giving an immediate damage buff for you and your group. With the update, we’re also adding new ways to consume Marks of Magic in return for helpful effects.

Reclaim Magic

• Consumes all Mark of Magic stacks from your target, returning mana to you based on stacks consumed.

Seal of Magic and Reclaim Magic form the core mana regeneration loop. Seal of Magic rewards you for stacking a debuff on the enemy; Reclaim Magic converts that investment into mana, offsetting the mana cost of your spells. When used with the Volley line, Wizards can do a bit of damage while simultaneously restoring mana.

Arcane Acceleration

• Consumes all Mark of Magic stacks from your target, granting you and your group a spell haste aura.

• Haste scales from 10% to 30% as you level, and duration increases by 90 seconds per stack consumed.

This is Reclaim Magic's aggressive counterpart. Instead of converting stacks into mana, you convert them into a group-wide spell haste, granting your group mates a valuable buff without straying from your regular damage cycle. Note that this is replacing the previous single-target spell haste buff.

Damage Spells

Wizards are masters of magic, so it's only right that they get a tool for every situation. Many of their spells have a secondary effect in addition to dealing damage; for example, ice spells snare the target briefly, lightning spells interrupt casting, and arcane spells decrease the target’s casting speed. We kept a good mix of magic, fire, cold, and electric spells, since a Wizard without a fireball felt a bit odd.

When designing the spell lines, we tried to give each a strong identity, with tradeoffs between damage, cast time, and mana efficiency. These are likely to see continued adjustments in the future as we get more class updates done, so we can ensure that Wizards are the major damage dealers they should be.

Flash of Ice, Flash of Lightning

• Fast-casting direct damage with a secondary effect.

• These spells have short cast times, but give up some damage and mana efficiency.

This is your fastest direct damage spell line. It's useful for pulling, kiting, and filling gaps when your longer casts aren't safe.

Iceblast, Fireball

• High-damage spells with a longer cast time.

• Your biggest single hits with great damage for their casting time, but not as fast or mana efficient as some other choices.

These are good openers when soloing, or big hits when your group needs to burn something down fast. Wizards get their first Iceblast early on; they can't cast a lot of them before running out of mana, but they sure hit hard!

Arcane Volley, Fire Volley

• Channeled; fires a number of magical missiles in rapid succession at a target, scaling from 2 shots at low levels up to 5 shots later.

• Inexpensive to cast, but doesn't do a lot of damage.

Volleys are the fastest way to stack Marks of Magic on a target. Marks give increased damage to your evocation spells, or you can consume them for mana or a spell haste buff.

Arcane Surge, Lightning Surge

• Baseline direct damage, tuned for mana efficiency over raw output.

• Not as fast-casting or damaging as some other spells, but the most mana-efficient tool for Wizards.

These are your workhorse single-target spells that are efficient enough to sustain through long fights.

Ice Spike, Fire Spike

• Low-resist direct damage spells.

These are a great choice when you're facing high-resistance enemies.

Lightning Nova, Arcane Nova

• Deals AoE damage to all targets in an area around the caster.

Novas are your fastest AoE spells, though they do a bit less damage than Burst spells and radiate out from the caster’s position (PBAoE).

Burst of Lightning, Burst of Magic

• Deals AoE damage to all targets around a specific target.

These are targeted AoE spells, so you can hit things further away than you can with Nova spells. The cast times are longer to account for the greater range.

Icestorm, Firestorm

• Rain AoE; deals damage over time to all targets in the affected area.

These are also targeted AoEs, but deal damage over time rather than one big hit like Bursts. This means they are a better choice if you're worried about pulling aggro.

Crowd Control & Debuffs

Root

• Immobilizes a single target for 30 seconds.

Telekinetic Knockback

• Knocks your target back and stuns them for 3 seconds.

Arcane Bonds

• AoE movement slow of -50% applied to all targets around your target.

Wall of Force

• Creates a barrier that immobilizes any target passing through it.

Dispels

Dispel Magic, Abolish Magic

• Removes harmful effect(s) from your target.

Purge

• Removes 1 beneficial effect and 1 song from an enemy target.

Resistance Buffs & Debuffs

Magic Protection, Cold Protection, Electricity Protection, Fire Protection

• Buffs that increase your target's resistance to magic, cold, electricity, or fire.

Insidious Magic, Insidious Ice, Insidious Lightning, Insidious Fire

• Debuffs that reduce your target's resistance to magic, cold, electricity, or fire.

The Insidious line gives Wizards a meaningful debuff to a target’s resists, boosting spell damage for themselves and group mates. 

Self Buffs

Spellshield

• Increases your maximum Health and Armor Class. 

Eldritch Ward

• Absorbs incoming damage and increases Armor Class. This is a short-duration spell with a fast cast time.

Two defensive layers starting at a low level. Wizards aren't built to take hits, but these offer some survivability when something goes wrong.

Sorcerous Mind

• Increases Mana Regeneration and Casting Speed; grants See Invisible and Sense Magic.

This is a self-only spell that bundles a few helpful effects into an hour-long buff. 

Arcane Invocation

• Channeled mana recovery over time. This has a longer recast time and provides a helpful infusion of mana when it's needed most.

Mobility & Transportation

Blink

• Short-range teleport forward; breaks stun and root effects.

Wizards aren't melee fighters, so Blink gives them an escape tool even when they're locked down.

Exodus, Evacuation

• Relocate yourself to a safe spot within the current zone when things go bad. Relocates your group as well, when you upgrade to Evacuation.

Zone Gates & Portals

• Gate spells teleport you to a specific zone. Portal versions extend that to your group.

• Destinations available: Evershade Weald, Shaded Dunes, Glass Flats, Vale of Zintar.

Translocate

• Returns a group member to their bind location.

Transportation spells are the most visible group utility Wizards bring outside of combat. Portals, Translocate, and Evacuation each cover a different kind of "we need to get out of here" situation.

Utility

Sense Magic

• Grants a target the ability to see magical effects.

Summon Mage Light

• Creates a tradeable light source lasting 15 minutes.

Bind Vision

• Allows you to see through your target's eyes.

Shroud of the Magi

• Grants a group member invisibility for up to 10 minutes. This also grants See Invisible.

New System: Incantations

Before we wrap things up, there's one more piece of the Wizard kit worth knowing about: the Wizard-exclusive Incantation system. This was the part we referenced earlier:

• “In combat, they can combine magical elements on the fly to adapt to the situation.”

Every casting class in Monsters & Memories has ten spell slots available. A Wizard using the Incantation system can access 36 different spells using just five of those slots—four glyphs and the catalyst that fires them. This gives you access to all 16 damage spell lines at any time, along with 20 other utility spells. 

That's the pitch. 

If you like the fantasy of a Wizard who’s genuinely mastered their craft and always has the right spell for the moment, then this system was built for you. It does come with some effort though, as recalling which glyphs you need for the right incantation can take time and experience as a player. A damage spell is always a combination of two glyphs, but that’s still 16 incantations to recall.

We don’t want to over or under sell this feature. We hope many Wizards will enjoy it, but it's not going to please everyone, and that's okay. Please consider Incantations an optional mastery system. If it doesn’t grab you, every Wizard spell is also available as a traditional scroll you can scribe, memorize, and cast from your bar the traditional way. You can still play Wizard at a high level without ever touching a glyph.

For those who do want to learn it, here's how it works:

• Glyphs are the building blocks. There are four of them, with one for each element: Glyph: Mun (Arcane), Glyph: Hil (Ice), Glyph: Nas (Lightning), and Glyph: Dur (Fire). They have no mana cost and don't trigger the global cooldown. 

• Incantations are recipes you build by casting glyphs in sequence. The first glyph you cast sets your foundation; i.e., the spell type you're building toward. Any glyphs you cast after are enhancements that shape the final spell. You can add one enhancement up to two times before activating your incantation.

• Spell Catalyst activates the incantation, triggering whichever spell your combination maps to at the highest rank you're capable of.

The system unlocks gradually. Wizards get their first glyph at level 8 with only a handful of combinations to learn. A second arrives at 16, a third at 24, and the fourth at 32. By the time all 36 incantations are available, most of the recipe logic should already feel familiar; each element follows consistent patterns, so you're building on rules you've already learned rather than memorizing a table from scratch.

If you’re already a high level Wizard, this system may be a little more challenging to learn all at once compared to ramping up gradually throughout the leveling journey. Please keep that in mind when trying it out.

And a little lore side note: the name of each glyph is based on a language we're developing for an ancient civilization… but you’ll learn more about that as the game grows.

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That wraps up our Wizard deep dive. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. We’ll keep an eye out for feedback and initial impressions, and we really look forward to seeing what you think after you’ve tried this out on the beta server in a couple weeks.