Talk:Wizard Grind and Zhen

Rewrite Notes
Rewriting this may take a bit of time... Work in progress will be in the talk page. Change notes will be kept in this top section, similar to the merges I've done. Also, I won't be changing recommendations. I'll add a couple little things here and there if they've been introduced to the game since this guide was written (such as the use of HY instead of MP charms at Level 75+), but I'm going to try to keep the same recommendations as the original Author's. Even though I took my Wizard in a slightly different direction. --Flyingsoloist 13:06, 14 July 2011 (PDT)

Changes Made: --Flyingsoloist 14:24, 14 July 2011 (PDT)
 * 1) Reorganized headings/subheadings into appropriate categories.
 * 2) Rewrote the intro.
 * 3) Rewrote/moved text in "Solo Grinding" intro.
 * 4) "Advice for Solo Grinding"
 * 5) *Renamed to "Solo Grind Tips".
 * 6) *Moved to above which mobs.
 * 7) *Changed numbered list to wiki-style formatting.
 * 8) *Started reorganizing.
 * 9) "Some Nice Grind Spots"
 * 10) *Renamed to "Good Mobs for Solo Grinding".
 * 11) *Reorganized mobs into table.
 * 12) *Reworded and moved info from bottom of section to above the table.
 * 13) *Color coded and bolded elements for easier at-a-glance spotting and sifting.
 * 14) * Content needs to be verified for correctness. I'm pretty sure that some of the data is wrong, such as Pyrofiends being labeled as a Water-element mob. The table is incomplete as well. Coordinates and terrain type (Air/Sea/Land) are missing in some cases.
 * 15) Added link(s) (determine which is better...and/or if those need to be merged :/ )
 * 16) *Grinding mobs
 * 17) *The Grinder's Guide...to Grinding!

Changes Made: --Flyingsoloist 17:09, 14 July 2011 (PDT)
 * 1) Rewrote "Solo Grind Tips"
 * 2) *Generalizing the tips a bit. It still fits in with what the OP was doing - tailoring his play style for a certain type of fighting, but making this more applicable to others. (OP favored Earth over Fire. Keeping with the sentiment of focusing strength on one-two elements, but letting the reader pick their own.)
 * 3) *Got most of it down, but somehow I feel like a lot of it may need to be reworded...and potentially a change in tone in a couple places.

Changes made: --Flyingsoloist 11:59, 15 July 2011 (PDT)
 * 1) Rewrote/Reorganized Zhen Grinding Section
 * 2) *I think the Spiders the OP was talking about are the Deepblue Scavengers. Or at least those are the ones I used to Zhen on.

Changes made: --Flyingsoloist 12:46, 15 July 2011 (PDT)
 * 1) Updated table of mobs to solo grind on.

Page sections (crossed off when complete):
 * Intro
 * Solo Grinding
 * Solo Grind Tips (Advice for Solo Grinding)
 * Good Mobs for Solo Grinding (Some Nice Grind Spots)
 * Zhen Grinding
 * Setup
 * Zhen Locations

Page Contents
So you have a wizard. So you've decided how you want to build it. So you're got your ideal gear picked out.

Great! This is not another wizard building guide but a supplement to get you that last thing you need: levels.

Solo Grinding
There comes a time in every character's life when they run out of quests. When that happens, it's time to start grinding mobs.

For starters, you don't really need to grind at early levels because you'll have quests that keep your level climbing. Always complete your quests first. When you grind, you may want to focus your efforts on air and sea mobs because you'll get more exp off those mobs than off land mobs. The catch is that it's a little harder to maneuver under water or in the air, but being a mage and thus being ranged make this almost moot.

Solo Grind Tips
One strategy to grinding as a wizard is to focus on either a single element, or a single element and a back up. Fire and Earth make excellent focus elements as they have a variety of attacks and generally hit harder. Water is good as a secondary as it is a little more geared towards support skills, but it has a few staple skills.

Skill Priorities


 * 1) Shields - Shields at max capacity!
 * 2) *Stone Barrier - Great all around shield. Lots of mobs will try to hit you with physical melee attacks if you let them get close, so this is applicable to whatever element you favor. Max this ASAP.
 * 3) *Pyroshell - You'll want this mainly for fighting fire aligned mobs. Unless those are your targets, this isn't a priority.
 * 4) *Glacial Embrace - Barring fire mobs, this is your best shield for fighting magic mobs. It won't increase your resistance against anything but water, but the extra MP regen comes in handy, especially at early levels.
 * 5) Elemental Attacks - Max two skills of the same element ASAP. If you're focusing your energy against a certain element, it's best to have a hard hitter to open with and then a quick cast to follow up with. Eventually, you'll have plenty of spirit, so you'll be maxing everything anyway. But at early levels when spirit is short, it's a good idea to not spread yourself too thin.
 * 6) *Earth Enchanters - Using Sandstorm and Stone Rain is surefire way to keep your enemies between a rock and a hard place.
 * 7) *Fire Fighters - The Divine Pyrogram and Pyrogram combo is sure to blaze a trail through any wraith infested wilderness.
 * 8) *Water Wizards - Glacial Snare combined with Gush can keep mobs dropping and exp flowing.
 * 9) *All Archmages - Do keep the starter spell for each element at a decent level. They make great fillers even though they aren't aligned to the element you're focusing on. Even if a mob is strong against an attack, you're still doing something besides waiting for your favorite element's spell to cool down.
 * 10) Max Gush. Regardless of your elemental alignment, max it. It's a great filler that slows your target.

C-C-C-COMBOS!

Here's a few good ones:
 * GS>SS>G>SR
 * SS>G>SS

Oh, and here's what those mean:
 * G: Gush
 * GS: Glacial Snare
 * SR: Stone Rain
 * SS: Sandstorm

Preparations


 * 1) Get buffed. Cleric buffs. Barb buffs. BM buff. Veno buff. Faction buffs. Assassin buff. Whichever. Well, maybe not the last one. What you need is mainly dependent upon your weaknesses and what you plan on fighting.
 * 2) Level your Apothecary Skill. Farm herbs (if you're lucky, while you're grinding!) and make some Life Powders and Focus Powder. They increase your HP/MP recovery rate and are a godsend in early levels. Also look into making pots that give you back HP/MP (instantly or over a few seconds). If you're lucky, you won't have to use charms and/or meditate much. These don't matter as much after you hit level 75 and get to use event pots, but they make life much easier before that point. Just make sure you get buffs from other classes first (particularly cleric buffs). Some pots/buffs overwrite each other and you don't want to overwrite a buff you have to work to make with an inferior buff!
 * 3) Grab Hyper XP Stones and/or Martial Arts Scrolls (Golden Silkworms). You're here for XP, so you might as well make it worth your while.
 * 4) If you're focusing on enemies of a certain element, look out for alternative pieces of gear that match that type of resistance. Further explanation to go below...


 * 1) Now for your equipment, I'll try to explain it clearly. When you grind Foxing Supremes (fire), try to get your arcane robes with single/double resistance type, because when you have armor with fewer resistance varieties, the resistance of those remaining will be higher than what you would have on an armor having all the different element resistance.
 * 2) *For example, if a level 50 arcane robe with all elements gives:
 * 3) **690 metal
 * 4) **690 fire
 * 5) **690 water
 * 6) **690 wood
 * 7) **690 earth
 * 8) *Then a level 50 arcane robe with two elements gives:
 * 9) **??? fire
 * 10) **??? metal
 * 11) *Then again a counter argument comes about what if you need to do quests which requires killing mobs of other elements? Now I'll say I always carry two sets of robes. One set is for specific element types, fewer resistance types, but high resistance in the given element(s), and the other set which has all element resistance, but average in all.
 * 12) *So when you grind you use your element focused gear and when you quest you can swap to your general gear. I'm now assuming you've fully upgraded your inventory slots to carry two sets of armor of course =). And it's not expensive to get these two sets because when you grind or quest, you'll definitely come across these kinds of armor. Just be sure to plan what elements you will need in the future, and don't sell it when you come across it. But please note, it's only advisable to have two sets when you're around level 60 and below. Because when you're higher level, there's a need for you to refine and imbue your armor. It's too costly to upgrade two sets.

Good Mobs for Solo Grinding
Some mobs are better to grind on than others. The best mobs for you depend on your level, build, equipment, and play style. As a wizard, you are the master of the Earth, Fire, and Water elements. Due to their elemental alignments, this makes certain mobs easier to kill than others, especially at lower levels when your physical defense tends to be near nonexistent.

There can be advantages to fighting mobs that are not resistant to your attacks. For example, many wood mobs won't be weak to your attacks (a favorite of the metal-mage clerics), they deal poison damage as a DoT attack. Sometimes poison is easier to handle than hit after hit of another element.

Here are a few recommendations to get you started:

Zhen Grinding
Zhen, derived from the Chinese "Zhen Fa", refers to skills and spells that cause damage in an area. As it relates to PWI, Zhenning is AoE grinding, normally in a group. (While it's possible to AoE grind and use "Zhen"s when playing solo, it's more common to just call this AoE grinding.)

Traditionally, a Zhen squad consists of DD(s) with continuous AoEs, a Healer, and a lurer. The DDs start their AoEs with the Healer healing them and the lurer(s) bring mobs into the damage zone. A typical Zhen session can last about an hour or two.

Setup
Before Joining a Squad

As a wizard, you'll need to keep up your Zhen for a long time. Make sure to grab lots of mp pots and a charm if necessary (usually only for level 74 and below, since at level 75 you get to start using HY). HP pots are good to have as always, especially since you may end up tanking a majority of the mobs.

Max Dragon's Breath. This all you'll be using, so it'd better be as high as it can go.

The Squad

A Zhen squad consists of AoE DD(s), lurer(s), and healer(s). Your job is that of an AoE DD. It may be a good idea to grab an archer or a seeker as well for their Barrage of Arrows or Vortex. Extra DDs just make the mobs drop faster giving you more exp and reducing how fast you get beat upon. A barbarian or blademaster make great lurers as they can run fast and take the hits while gathering up the mobs. Generally, your lurer(s) will be the ones picking up the drops between grabbing chunks of mobs. Normally, a cleric is used as the healer, primarily for BB. However, if you don't need the full strength of BB, mystics can fulfill that role with their healing plants and shields as well as help out with the damage dealing.

A larger Zhen squad can mean getting more mobs and staying safer, but it means that the exp will be split between more people. Going in a smaller group makes for a slightly more dangerous session, but reaps better rewards.

Starting the Zhen

Dole out buffs all around and make sure everyone has enough chi.

If you have an archer, you'll need get their AoE started before you start bringing in the mobs:
 * 1) If there are mobs where you want to set up, have your lurer round them up and lead them on a merry chase.
 * 2) Have one person duel the archer. The archer should defeat the other person with Barrage of Arrows. The duel ends, but Barrage doesn't since the target is still alive.
 * 3) Position the rest of the squad around the archer accordingly. Remember that the range of Dragon's Breath is actually twice that of the graphical effects. Make sure that the damage zone covers the archer. If they pull aggro, the mobs will run to them, which could spell their death if you haven't set up correctly.
 * 4) Healer should start their healing spell (normally a cleric with BB).
 * 5) Activate your hypers/experience scrolls and have the lurer start bringing in the mobs.

Positioning

Basically, you want your DDs huddled together so that your AoEs will hit all the mobs, regardless of who they're aggroed on. You don't have to be right on top of each other (a little distance is good to increase the overall range), but you want to be close enough to hit mobs that may be range attacking our squadmates.

Here's a couple sample setups:
 * 5-man zhen squad
 * 4-man zhen squad

A note for clerics: If you're on the world map, you may want to have your cleric fly as they are in BB. There's no reduction in healing and they'll be a safer if the mobs come in from an odd direction.

Zhen Locations
Here are some popular mobs for Zhen Squads:

If you are level 89 or higher, there are many mobs in Lothranis (Heaven) and Momaganon (Hell) that work well for Zhenning.