Returning player/Shadow Mage advice.

[homestuff]

Hey Arelith fam, its been a hot minute since I've played last, just looking for some input on my new character.
(the initial creation of Andunor is about when I played last lol)

I'm aiming for the typical Wizard 24/ 4 Ranger split. But going Shadow Mage.

Relivent starting stats:
Dex: 16
Int: 22

Feat wise, 4 spell foci, then the usual extend, craft wand and something else.

which brings me to my dilemma: Which foci?

I was thinking

Illusion. ( started with this cuz color spray spam is awesome)
Necromancy.
enchantment.
divination.
Abjuration.

Im torn between taking all three shadow mage schools to maximize my benefit there, but that leaves me torn between Div and abj, both of which are feel good mechanically and Rp wise. Or is maybe the better move to drop enchantment and go both abj + Div instead.

Thoughts? Also any tips regarding shadow mage or mages in general are welcome. Its been a while

Also,
How do neco summons and The Illusion summoned shadows interact? Does one cause the other to despawn? (I'm aware the shades are ment at a low duration summon)

[Fallout]

My dear player welcome back.

I would vote illusion div and abjur. Cant wait to see you in the game and what you make out of your toon.

[Gouge Away]

Enchantment is the best in PVE, dominating people and monsters is just a blast. In PVP it's rough though because clarity, mind blank and other immunities pretty much cancel the school.

Some might swear by necromancy but I don't know. Mummy dust is good enough without ESF so don't take it for that. For the save or die spells of course you want the highest DC... I prefer illusion as it has more all-around utility myself.

Abjuration is pretty necessary. Divination is mostly for scrying alone.. That one is up to you, it's good thematically but it's not a rare ability and more and more anything you want to scry on is going to have protection in place. It's both really good and really disappointing.

[mjones3]

Divination opens up more role-playing chances than any other school out there. From scrying to auras (a FOIG mechanic) it lets you pierce the veil and gain insights others will never have.

For pvp and pve it offers very little. Power word kill offers a single target instant kill with a save or not based on the targets hp. Feeblemind is amazing in that it now adds a stun effect, but you will likely need to empower it or maximize it to guarantee the effect even if they fail the will save.

[garrbear758]

1. The split you want is 27 wizard 3 ranger. 4 Ranger gets you nothing except lower CL.

2. Abjuration is a must have, and enchantment is probably the weakest school. Divination doesn't have many good offensive spells, but the real benefit is the extended duration on true seeing.

[AstralUniverse]

I vote necromancy, abjuration and transmutation.

As said above, abjuration is simply must have.

Necromancy is a lot of fun. People build for high saves but in reality, they havent often reached that point yet and these spells are quite efficient, from my experience. The summons are great for pve (I understand from others that they are pretty good even without focusing the school tho).

Transmutation, in combination with a ranger dip, unlocks long duration Aura of Vitality via Icon Of The Hunt (magic staff), which means, combine with transmutation zoo buffs, add up to +11 str/dex/con to your summons and party. Also, teleport and creating portals are pretty neat cookies.