BY KELAV THE ANGEL OF ARCANA

• INTRODUCTION

  I will review all abilities of an invoker and tell you what to do and what not to do. Don't take this as godly advice, I'm not the best invoker ever, but I think I have a fair idea of what I'm doing.

• SKILLS

  • You have staff, dagger, and mace. Use a staff at ALL TIMES. That is unless you get a tomb of arcanus and wish to use it with a mace, but a dagger is really the worst choice possible. You will never use your weapon to do damage, remember this. You have the ability to parry. Master this, it is an essential. Your parry will come in handy against almost any class, possibly with the exception of another invoker. Mana charge is still somewhat hard to understand. From what I've seen, mana charge makes it so when you lose your concentration, you don't lose as much mana..I haven't seen it help much. If you play long enough, you will eventually master meditation and trance. These are crucial at rank 50.

• DEFENSIVE SPELLS

  • You have an array of very powerful defensive spells. Always keep armor and shield up. Use protective shield against anyone that can bash/bodyslam/thrust/air thrash you.
  • Now..
    You have a choice of one shield to put up of three. You have mana shield, ice shield, and fire shield. Ice shield is extremely useful against fire giants, Dedric can attest to that. I have never used fire shield (never found an opportunity). Mana shield is by far your most important defensive spell. While you have mana shield up, you take NO DAMAGE from afflictive spells, or magical weapons. Each time your mana shield is used, it docks away a small portion of your mana. This is not normally a problem, but when faced with a magical weapon that is hitting you quite a bit, your mana will drain very quickly.
  • Important: DO NOT use spells when they are not necessary. When fighting someone that can't bash, etc. you, do NOT use protective shield. You need all the mana you can get.

• OFFENSIVE SPELLS

  • I won't delve into the weaker spells, only the useful ones. Icicle is a very important spell, it will bring swift death to any fire giant. Never use anything but ice against a fire giant, period. Call lightning is useful in a few circumstances. But because of the limitations of weather and area, it is very hard to use. Fireball is relatively weak compared to any high level spell, never use it at high ranks. Jet steam is very important, use it against all dwarves and duergar. Do not use hellstream unless you are trying to melt their armor and can't beat them otherwise. Firestorm is a very important spell. Firestorm has the capability to disintegrate, and the capability to scratch. Here's how it works.. You cast a firestorm and it immediately explodes, doing massive damage. Then, every round until it wears off, it will hit your opponent. These hits are normally pretty bad. Every tick it will explode, doing tons of damage. If you cast it while it is already going, it will explode as well.
    Hellstream is your most important spell. It must be at high proficiency to be used successfully at level 50.
  • Note: Do not expect hellstreams to do UNSPEAKABLE things to people, and do not expect them to ever sink below a LACERATE. It is true, certain people have taken lacerates, it is not uncommon. But, be aware that saves will not help you against hellstream very much. I would estimate about 50 saves vs. afflictive would be necessary to make a substantial difference in hellstream.
  • Hint: Use hellstreams at all times unless a vulnerability is available to be taken advantage of. Hurricane is an almost useless skill. Only use it when you have another person to do damage (for example a squire.)

• MISCELLANEOUS SPELLS

  • Enchant weapon/armor: These spells are not as useful at high ranks. Enchant weapon will not help you, though it can benefit others. Enchant armor can be used, though I find it very hard and not bringing good results. I die too quick for enchanting my armor to be useful. Dispel magic is one of your most important spells. Whenever you have rank advantage or the opponent has low intelligence, dispel them. This spell has a one-round lag. If you dispel their sanc away, most enemies will die in two or three hellstreams. Word of recall - simple spell, use it when necessary.

• COMBAT TIPS

  • First and foremost, do NOT spam hellstream. Instead, wait until your lag from your last spell is almost over, then hellstream. Always dispel magic first if possible. Do not waste valuable rounds. As soon as the lag from your last spell is up, cast again. Waiting one round could mean your death. Do not be afraid to get very, very low on health. Eventually, you will know exactly when you are going to die and when not (except against assassinate of course.) You will be able to gauge if you have the health to cast another hellstream. Be the first to start the battle. If you have the opportunity, set up a firestorm before the enemy enters. That way as soon as they enter, you can immediately hellstream. Hellstream is one of the best spells in the game to use when chasing after an enemy. You are almost guaranteed that if they are running, they are close to death. One hellstream should finish them off at this point.

• EQUIPMENT SELECTION

  • Hit/Damroll do not matter. Always remember this. Depending on who your enemies are, you need saves. Saves vs. mental are very important so that you don't get dispelled. Saves vs. maledictive are very important so you don't get silenced or any other annoying spells.
  • Saves vs. afflictive are most likely the least important. Your best bet is to get save vs. spell. Hit points are the MOST important of all your equipment. Get all the hit points possible. This is even of higher importance than mana. Armor classes is one of the things I neglected for a long time. It is very important to take less damage from enemies, so get high armor class.
    Always use a staff.

• RACE SELECTION

  Here are your choices:

  • Human, Gnome, Avian, Elf, Drow, Faerie.
    I regret making human, as it is not as good as I pictured. I could've used more dexterity and intelligence.
  • Note: Humans have 4 more constitution than elves, but invokers get such low hps that it is of minor importance. This will only be the difference of about 1 hp per rank.
  • Gnome is an alright choice. I don't know much about them, however. I would not make a gnome, because of the bashing vulnerability however.
  • Avian is a fair choice. The auto-flight is nice, but potions of flight are not hard to get. The vulnerability to disease makes it not-so-worth it to be avian.
  • Elf is a very good choice. I would rather be an elf right now than human. Their superior intelligence results in more trains and more mana is always better. The dexterity is very important, along with auto-sneak.
  • Drow is very similar to elf, I would take elf over drow though.
  • If I had the chance, I would change Kelav to a faerie. Here is why: They get equal intelligence and dexterity as elves, and they have auto-flight, and auto-sneak. They are the best of both worlds, avian and elf. The very low strength and constitution is not as important as one would think. For me, I have a squire to carry everything, and once again, six constitution less in an invoker doesn't amount to much. Faerie would have been a better choice for me.

CONCLUSION 

I hope somebody is able to take some hints from this. Invokers are not nearly as tough to play as people think. They are not nearly as hard as a necromancer. Now start playing invokers, remember, ALL CLASSES ARE BALANCED AT LEVEL 50. So if you have the instincts and desire to play an invoker, do it.

- Kelav the Angel of Arcana, Bane of Few, property of Clavrus, property of Falen, property of Drendyn, and never touched by Gorath

(note: in a later post, Kelav admitted to never having chain lightning. Take that for what it is worth.)

(edited for appearance)