The Witch / Mana & Mana Shield

Hi,

I'm playing a witch and currently designing my skill tree. But I wonder about two things:

First will I need to invest in any Mana increasing skills? Or Mana Regeneration skills? I'm already low on skill points in my build, so I hope not :) But I can't tell how it will be, as maybe you can compensate with good mana bottles and items etc., or it's not necessary at all

Second, talking about protection, do I need the Mana Shield or any other kind of protection by skills? I'm not talking about if it's more comfortable to play, I'm talking if I will suffer one hit deaths all the time if I forget to invest in some defensive skills. I can live with a little danger, but not with dying all the time.

Thanks in adavance for you answers :)

You will need some defensive skills or you will die all the time on cruel +. Also, you might want to check out the Witch forums, lots of good info there.

Ok, and what defensive skills?

And how about mana skills?

I'm 46 on my witch. I have gotten a few health nodes. I currently have 1000HP and 800ES. I am going to start picking up some ES nodes because I am starting to get hit alot harder.

I see thanks, but still I wonder how you high level guys do with your mana reserves, is there always enough or do you need some skill points invested?

High level spells with lots of supports can require a large amount of mana. You also need a lot of max mana if you plan to run certain auras at a high level.
If you can become self sufficient or nearly self sufficient, you may only need 0 or 1 mana flasks, freeing up slots for health and utility flasks.

If you are lacking in passives on one area, you can often make it up to some extent in your gear (including flasks). The amount of mana you are going to need is going to depend on your build - some will be very mana efficient, while some take a ton of mana but are capable of pumping out much greater damage.

Sorry there is no simple answer except that mana passives are not worthless.

reduced mana gem linked with auras and reduced mana reservation on passive skill tree definitely helps if your going to run more than 2 auras

Thanks for the answers - and in case of doubt is it wiser to go for higher mana, or faster mana recovery? I know it's often hard to give a general answer, but I need a directon to go for and your answers are already helping me alot :)

Or go for Eldritch battery, then you never have mana issues, but that's whole different beast altogether because now you need lots of life and another form of defence.

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Pongard wrote:

Thanks for the answers - and in case of doubt is it wiser to go for higher mana, or faster mana recovery? I know it's often hard to give a general answer, but I need a directon to go for and your answers are already helping me alot :)

there needs to be a balance here since you need more mana for auras but also mana regen for spells. Theres no point full specing into one since you will lose out on the other. At the end of the day, you want to have a look at your build and ask yourself if you want to run mulpitle auras or have a high mana costing skill, or both. then you need to plan ur build accordingly