[X] My Assistant

Meanwhile there's me dragging 8.5 on just IWBTH (no problem surviving though, just draughts) on my 2H.

Although my weapon is so outdated it's painful to look at. Still waiting for a goood Estoc to invest on.

For dark, demonic willow staff of destruction is the best.
Also consider fire/cold mages. They are also cheap and good. Remind ya (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) Redwood for Arenas, willow for IW and GF.

how is demonic willow compared to demonic katalox???
I got myself this Legendary Demonic Katalox Staff of Destruction for 50k from auctions...
I know it's not the best but should I really find the willow one if I only plan to use it on arena esp. SG arena???

also need some insight about my planned poor dark mage equipments... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
Staff Cap Robe Gloves Cotton Pants
still searching for a good plain phase shoes atm...

which one should I change???
I also have Legendary Onyx Cotton Gloves of the Demon-fiend in mind when you mention 2 prof cotton work better at the start...

Can I start making the transition to mage? How much money should I start with and what elemental builds? I've seen that holy/dark are the best but I don't think I can afford them at this time. Right now I have about 6m if I sell all my haths. (I'm broke after that GS purchase lmao)

I'm reading through the wiki right now and it's super extensive! Thank you whoever wrote it (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)
As for 4 Phase+1 Proficiency/3 Phase+2 Proficiency, does the specific parts to be Phase/proficiency matter? Also, what do you recommend between the two (for my case)?

Right now I'm considering following the step 1 of the Mage Builds Guide by spamming some spells and train my assimilator, which is 0 rn. Also, I have only 40 extra ability points, is that too little? What are some spells that are used by mage besides the elemental spells T1~T3 on a regular basis? Let me know if I've omitted any spell below (or put something not used):

Imperil, cure, regen, haste, shadow veil, sol, arcane focus, ss

I've attached my proficiency and theoretical stat distribution based on the wiki for reference. Any feedback greatly, greatly appreciated.



EDIT: Right now I'm considering going with 1H Mage to get started. What's your thoughts on that? Although I really don't know what 1H Mage is...Do I just swap out Force Shield and Power Armor with Buckler and Phase/Cloth?
EDIT2: Is prof factor = effective_prof/level - 1? And I want this to be at least 0.68 right?
EDIT3: What are the key factors I look for in mage items? MDB>EDB>Prof? Forge armor to Jug3 and staff to Pen5Spel3?

I guess I wrote most of that guide in the wiki, but based on advice of experts before me.

Budget of 6m is not enough.
1. Elemenal hath perk 1000 hath.
2. Staff fully forged 25-30m
3. Basic cloth pieces, prof cotton fully forged 25m

Then you have a decent mage set. You can go cheaper without forging, but it will not play as well as 1h. 1h mage is a nice way of gaining Element proficiency. But you can also just cast one Element spell each round while playing 1h. Also imperil every round.

So I need at least 60m to just get started?? :s
I thought players start making transitions to mage around 350~400, but I can't see myself making that money while getting to lv400 by doing arenas alone lol.

Maybe I should look for 1H gears and stick with 1H for a while...

provided you could survive, turn count wise, maging will always faster than 1h to clear most (if not any) content.
just be advised, the 10 mil that qr12345 mention for just the staff is not an exaggeration.
I clear PFDwD at around 3k turns using dark set which I believe still considered a very cheap investment for mage (little forged phase, fully forged clothes and staff), but it's still cost waaaay over what I ever spent on my 1h set (which I wear to clear PFGF blindfolded).
if you try being cheapskate in playing mage, you'll meet a new dimension of hurt and self-disappointment.

How much did you spend on the 1H set? Power of Slaughter set? Maybe I should use my 7m to upgrade my 1H set and get it going for a while and consider the switch later on lol, while gaining proficiencies for elemental and stuff

This post has been edited by Saioux: Feb 13 2019, 17:06

Thank you very much for all your precious feedback! I think I have to put on hold for converting to mage since I'm not crazy rich :'(
That being said, could you guys provide insights about improving my 1H set to be used for a while??



My plan is to first get decent leg rapier of slaughter and leg force shield, and I think there isn't much to discuss here.
For armors, 1. Mag Power Slaughter 2. Leg Power Protection/Balance. Which would be better? Since I'm not gonna go full 1H, I'll probably not waste money buying leg power slaughter.

I want a setup that can get me going at reasonable speed for PFFest as well, and I'd soulfuse them if necessary. I guess the budget I'm thinking of is about 10m total? I don't wanna spend too much since it's gonna be sunk cost..

My current equip links:

Legendary Hallowed Rapier of Balance
Exquisite Force Shield of Warding
Magnificent Power Helmet of Warding
Magnificent Jade Power Armor of Protection
Magnificent Amber Power Gauntlets of Warding
Magnificent Savage Power Leggings of Protection
Magnificent Power Boots of Protection

This post has been edited by Saioux: Feb 13 2019, 17:29

As others have mentioned, fire/cold or dark is the way to go. I wish I went dark instead of wind as it would have been much cheaper.

1h mage is actually quite strong when survival is needed (comparable to 1h but considerably faster clears when no SGs are invovled), but definitely slower than standard mage. It's a nice interim measure, but if your goal is eventual mage you should pick element first and then get the waki/shield as an afterthought as the mage gear will be way more expensive.

6M is not a bad initial start if you aren't planning to IW/GF with mage right off the bat. For arenas just start with plain phase and cotton - charged cotton has been suggested but not really needed. They are way more expensive at lower levels. Also don't be too worried to get magnificent cottons with decent rolls and 3 PABs - they are much cheaper to forge so you can go a bit higher.

Not super sure about lower level prices, but my guess is that you can probably get a decent fire/cold staff for less than 1M, less than 200k each for cotton (can go just 1 cotton assuming redwood staff), and probably less than 500k each for phase (EDB most important). The remainder can be spent on forging. For 1h mage expect maybe 100-200k on waki and 200-400k on buckler.

No significant difference in terms of Arenas.

An LDWD is still better, but not a must for your situation. Katalox also provides more profs, which is a good thing for beginners.
Staff is what contributes to your damage output the most and it's where you should spend your credits on first. If you want to maximize your damage, then willow.

Choose either a katalox or a willow and forge to lv50(MDB, EDB and profs).

As for dark mages, I suggest going for charged phases directly because the prices are very low. Usually it only takes 1~3m for each charged phase. And surely I won't waste soul fragments on plain phases. Never.

I prefer a cotton robe than gloves and shoes. If you don't have high profs, in which you can reach 0.8 with robe only, then you can use gloves+shoes at the moment.

You can go cheaper without forging, but it will not play as well as 1h.

This is straight up lie, you can easily outperform 1H just with basic forging

So I need at least 60m to just get started?? :s

Don't listen to high lvl mages who through tens of millions for 1% clearspeed increase, you should start building your set as soon as you can since good mage gears are scarce and balanced build needs corresponding prof perk

[quote name='Benny-boy' date='Feb 13 2019, 10:19' post='5351141']
This is straight up lie, you can easily outperform 1H just with basic forging

I assume that comment was meant for IW/GF. For arena I agree that no forging is really needed on the phases.

levels. Also don't be too worried to get magnificent cottons with decent rolls and 3 PABs - they are much cheaper to forge so you can go a bit higher.

Not super sure about lower level prices, but my guess is that you can probably get a decent fire/cold staff for less than 1M, less than 200k each for cotton (can go just 1 cotton assuming redwood staff), and probably less than 500k each for phase (EDB most important). The remainder can be spent on forging. For 1h mage expect maybe 100-200k on waki and 200-400k on buckler.

Thank you for your comment! Could you elaborate a bit about the mag cotton part? So I don't need to get one with decent rolls or 3 PABs? Also, is forging to 5 adequate for my purpose (arena) or should I still get it up to at least like 20. Esp for phase since it takes extra materials.



So many comments while I was editing to ask about 1H set. Thank you so much <3

Yes, my primary interest as of now is clearing arena faster, since PFFest and PF IW I can't touch even as 1H right now anyways.

I'll have to wait a bit to decide on elemental/dark since there is not a single staff with the correct combination that I can use w/o soulfuse on the market right now (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) Or maybe should I just do with LFKD or something like that for now?

So I guess I want charged phases if I'm gonna do dark mage because of slower cs, otherwise can just do plain cotton/phase for now. And forging them to 5 would do the job at least for arena? (hopefully) I'd forge everything to 5 cuz it's dirt cheap, but if I were to forge beyond that, I don't know if I'll forge something like physical defense lol.

Anyways, thank you for all of your comments! Right now I just really wish I could get my hands on some usable staff, right now it's either LAWD or LFKD shit...Maybe I should settle for LDKD perhaps :/

This post has been edited by Saioux: Feb 13 2019, 17:49

No significant difference in terms of Arenas.

An LDWD is still better, but not a must for your situation. Katalox also provides more profs, which is a good thing for beginners.
Staff is what contributes to your damage output the most and it's where you should spend your credits on first. If you want to maximize your damage, then willow.

Choose either a katalox or a willow and forge to lv50(MDB, EDB and profs).

I see...
so katalox vs willow is basically prof vs dmg (from counter-resist I guess???)...
I'll use my staff as I search for a better one for now...

As for dark mages, I suggest going for charged phases directly because the prices are very low. Usually it only takes 1~3m for each charged phase. And surely I won't waste soul fragments on plain phases. Never.

does the survivability differ that much if only used in SG arena???
I will still satisfied if it could survive even only in SG arena afterall...

I prefer a cotton robe than gloves and shoes. If you don't have high profs, in which you can reach 0.8 with robe only, then you can use gloves+shoes at the moment.

must it be a cotton robe???
I already calculated that with my katalox and cotton pants I could achieve 0.8 prof factor...
and do I need the charged one too on prof cloth???

This is straight up lie, you can easily outperform 1H just with basic forging
Don't listen to high lvl mages who through tens of millions for 1% clearspeed increase, you should start building your set as soon as you can since good mage gears are scarce and balanced build needs corresponding prof perk

Mage can outperform 1h with basic forging, for arena's, I agree. Not by much, though. You are right that I spent 90m for a small clearspeed increase. But that's got nothing to do with it. Let me think again:

Maybe full forging is too much, maybe you don't need all charged for arena's. That would lower the costs considerably. But a good staff will costs you at least 5m. And then I can't imagine that you would not want to forge at least the proficiency of your staff. Non-charged cloths should be 100k each or so? But you would want to forge your prof cotton quite a bit, let's say at least 10m on proficiency forging, or else you would need 3+2 for elemental. And I still think the elemental perk is mandatory.

That would make the minimal costs:
Staff 5m
cloth 0.5m
Elemental perk: 4m
Forging prof on staff and cotton: 10m
20m in total. Yeah, then 60 is a bit off, sorry about that. I really don't recommend mage if 20m sounds too expensive.

You can start collecting mage gear now, and use a preliminary mage set for the easy arenas. Best way is to start with a staff, those are the most rare. Patience is needed. Or leveling up. Or both.

I see...
so katalox vs willow is basically prof vs dmg (from counter-resist I guess???)...
I'll use my staff as I search for a better one for now...
does the survivability differ that much if only used in SG arena???
I will still satisfied if it could survive even only in SG arena afterall...
must it be a cotton robe???
I already calculated that with my katalox and cotton pants I could achieve 0.8 prof factor...
and do I need the charged one too on prof cloth???

If you start mage, I would recommend elemental, not dark. For elemental, shoes are enough. Gloves can be used as cheap alternative. For dark imperil, you could go for robe because that means 4+1 is possible. But just as easy is to go for 3+2. Not everyone has a peerless robe of the demon-fiend, or peerless pants of the demon-fiend. Shoes+gloves or Shoes+cap (that's what I did). Then it is not a problem if you drop the katalox for a willow in a while.

You don't need charged. Unless you want PFFEST / IW. Then get charged. And get mo credits first.

This post has been edited by DJNoni: Feb 13 2019, 18:06

And forging them to 5 would do the job at least for arena? (hopefully) I'd forge everything to 5 cuz it's dirt cheap, but if I were to forge beyond that, I don't know if I'll forge something like physical defense lol.

dunno if it still could be considered dirt cheap...
you need at least 1m for each phase after all... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

does the survivability differ that much if only used in SG arena???
I will still satisfied if it could survive even only in SG arena afterall...

Plain is very enough to complete PF arenas , but charged is always good for more comfortable playing(=less cure&sparking).

Yea...idk anymore. I guess what I'm gonna do is just get better gears for my 1H set and increase my elemental/dark prof and keep enough money to buy decent mage pieces if something shows up at the auction.

I think for now I better get either mag power slaughter or leg power and def better rapier and shield since it seems I'm stuck with 1H for a while lol. If I'm gonna go slow anyways, I'm not gonna waste money on mag pieces for mage set either, so this is gonna take a long time....


By the way, for supportive does mage use like everything? (sol, ss, protection, haste, shadow veil, did I miss anything)

This post has been edited by Saioux: Feb 13 2019, 18:17

does the survivability differ that much if only used in SG arena???
I will still satisfied if it could survive even only in SG arena afterall...
must it be a cotton robe???
I already calculated that with my katalox and cotton pants I could achieve 0.8 prof factor...
and do I need the charged one too on prof cloth???

I prefer to activate less spark of light.

It's up to you. I use a robe, and I have 0.83 prof factor only. Charged is always better.

Hm, speaking of SoL. Is it even possible to play as mage without SoL been more often triggered than a radical feminist? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Imho, you're trying to burn the steps too quickly. It feels like you're already trying to switch styles while you don't even have a decent grasp on your current one. To top it off, you're at a level where you'd need even more forging to be able to play mage decently, and you're leaving behind your trainings, which are very important as well.

You might be ending up with a bunch of equipment that costed an arm and a leg and that barely had any ROI at all.

So you're free to do whatever you want, but I'd advise you to have a solid 1h setup to back you up in case you underestimated the expense. That's what I did for my part : be able to clear PFFEST with 1H first, build a cheap mage build second, save up for the real deal third.

And I haven't farmed proficiency : switched straight away and relied on a good assimilator training to get going faster. I even started at Nintendo difficulty so that it's not excessively hard. Now I roflstomp arena mobs with minimal armor forging and without any Charged.

So try to plan ahead and to think twice before going in heavy expenses. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Mage can outperform 1h with basic forging, for arena's, I agree. Not by much, though. You are right that I spent 90m for a small clearspeed increase. But that's got nothing to do with it.

Sadly it leads to saying "60m or play 1H" to newer players, which is fundamentally wrong and if 10 min increase on D&D is not much than nothing is much.

20m in total. Yeah, then 60 is a bit off, sorry about that. I really don't recommend mage if 20m sounds too expensive.

That's more realistic, but let me tell you this - I spent under 10m for set that burns daily stamina in ~1h and it's something that should be recommended.

Meanwhile I'm lurking with 2H waiting for a rebalance :/

At least almost everything is cheap. Shade is the cheapest armor (sans useless), and so is 2H

Still waiting for decond to post a script bounty so I can avoid bankruptcy. Went from 1M cash to ~350k from training and IA2.

This post has been edited by ihatenamingthings: Feb 13 2019, 19:02