[X] My Assistant

Here's my set right now (not a show off or anything cause I'm sure they are not very good (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) ):

Exquisite Ebony Staff Of Destruction

Fine Gossamer Cap Of The Demon-Fiend

Fine phase robe of the fox

Average phase gloves of mjonir

Fine Gossamer pants of the demon-fiend

Fine phase shoes of surtr

It's kinda mixed up, since I don't know much about choosing cloth armor. I tend to go with phases for the no-burden and Gossamers for I-don't-even-know-why-I-just-see-everybody-recommend-them.

So my question is, what stats are important when choosing cloth armor for mages? Is there any piece among those I have that is completely unrelated to the set and should be changed immediately? And what should I change them to? Thanks.

This post has been edited by LangTuTaiHoa: Feb 12 2012, 12:11

Nice staff. I want. Seriously.

Your best bet with an Ebony staff is to pick one elemental type and focus on that, like Mjonir or Surtr, try to get a full set. While looking for decent pieces to go in that set you should get Gossamer of the Elementalist as a standby.

Main stats for phase, EDB then Evade then PABs/Magic Accuracy
Main stats for Goss, Prof then Evade then burden then PABs/Magic Accuracy

@smilejb
No, stun only boosts physical damage, not magical damage.
Here's how I think regarding battlecaster (as a high-level mage's view)

Most wepon/armor sets are collected specifically for this purpose.
Heavy armor -> high phy. mitigation + bleeding
Light armor -> high evade + stunning
Clothes -> max power output

So mix and match...
1. High difficulty (x10, x25)
Staff + armor -> damage output is just too low.
2-handed + clothes -> low physical mitigation, you just get hit too often

2. Low difficulty (x1, x2)
2-handed + clothes -> Most monsters die in a few hits with staff+ clothes/2h, so why do I need to use battlecasting?
Staff + armor -> damage output is still too low compared to melee/mage.

3. Medium difficulty (x3, x4)
2-handed + clothes -> seems better, I need more spells to kill monsters now, so spirit stance and stunning weapons would definitely help.
Staff + armor -> damage output is low, but I can proc for mana regen and spirit stance for lowering casting cost. I also have better mitigation, so I need less cure casts.

I'm going to test if I'm correct once I have some 200 prof. in melee weapons and armors.

Yes I know I'm quoting this again. But I have some new information.

Mage's one huge advantage, killing everything before they can attack on low difficulties, has been completely removed with the latest HP mod. High difficulties had already been much slower for mage since the repeated EDB nerfs, which is why no mage players bother with sustained play above Normal-Heroic range anymore.

So if mages don't really play on anything higher than heroic anyway, then that makes battle maging much more viable. They get the destruction of a mage while saving mana pots since they can melee and use spirit mode more often.

Still, I'd like to ask what difficulties do any mages reading this play on? I mean this argument would be false if I am recieving wrong information.

For me, since I'm using way more pots, I am actually doing the arena's on normal. Found out that I can one shot 3 critters with a tier one spell sometimes so that made me happy. Grindfest, I play on heroic-nightmare. Depends on my mood.

(and yes, I know I should just drop the subject, I've been going on far too long about it). Just humor me ok?

skillchip has stated almost every possible points, so I'll just add 1 or 2...

1. You need to notice how your suffix affects your spells.
For example, demon-fiend boosts soul and dark spells. Unless you've those two spells, your demon-field prof. is completely useless.
You can get your first dark spell at lv. 150, and that's a good one if you want to progress into holy-dark mage.
If you want to focus on elemental spells, pick elementalist/ EDB phases (surtr, mjolnir, etc.) instead.

2. The reason to focus on one elemental (holy/dark included) is, as I've stated, to try killing everything before they have a chance to hit you.

3. phase of fox/owl isn't that good; they can be an alternative if you have too much burden from your gossamer clothes, but that will surely decrease your damage output.

@smilejb

Well....my experience only.
Though you don't save your mana pots, you save time. And time IS money (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
And there's no need to use spirit mode; we already have Coalesced Mana with staffs!

This post has been edited by varst: Feb 12 2012, 09:36

is there any particular reason for oak having no destruction suffix ?

Just realized that spells and scrolls can stack (shadow veils - scroll of shadows,...) Does that mean I have totally 40% more evade chance (with shadow veils and scroll of shadows)?

is there any particular reason for oak having no destruction suffix ?

God knows.

Just realized that spells and scrolls can stack (shadow veils - scroll of shadows,...) Does that mean I have totally 40% more evade chance (with shadow veils and scroll of shadows)?

No. The increment in evade = 1 - (1 - evade in character screen) (1 - 20%) (1 - 20%)

So that would be less than 40% if you have some evade chance.

Still, I'd like to ask what difficulties do any mages reading this play on?

I play on normal (For drops) and IWBTH (For Exp), nothing between.


Most arenas on normal and I throw in the arenas lvl 1-40 in IWBTH plus a few rounds of the last 2 or 3 arenas also in IWBTH and Crysfest if I feel like it, with barely 15 rounds of them you get half a level easily at my level.

At lvl 130-180 it's relatively easy to grind on IWBTH (Crysfest preferred) as long as you don'g go brainless into battle, the monster's HP was greatly reduced because of the latest patch and you get insane Exp for killing a monster with 4~ spells.

Cool. I'm glad some one does iwbth as mage. I was doing arena's on heroic through nightmare but I thought about it some and those are pretty much only worth doing for the clear bonus anyway. So now I do normal there.

And I know crysfest does get you more exp but I kind of like getting all the credits and equips with grindfest. I figure once I get arcane focus, it will be even easier :-D.

Cool. I'm glad some one does iwbth as mage. I was doing arena's on heroic through nightmare but I thought about it some and those are pretty much only worth doing for the clear bonus anyway. So now I do normal there.

And I know crysfest does get you more exp but I kind of like getting all the credits and equips with grindfest. I figure once I get arcane focus, it will be even easier :-D.

AFAIK Cryfest gives the same exp as grindfest, however grindfest costs more stamina.

I can't wait to get higher in levels, so I can start clearing arenas in IWBTH. Right now it's too much of a hassle for me, really. Too many pots for not enough benefits. I usually do 4-5 rounds of IWBTH IW before I run out of mana. Wait for regen, then rinse and repeat.

How much HP should I expect RL & IPU to have on IWTBH? I mainly ask because the first time I fought FSM on IWTBH a patch or two ago, it had 21 mil HP, but this time, it only had about 10 mil HP, which is quite a drop.

I know RL has less HP than IPU, who itself has less HP than FSM, but I'm curious to know how much the gap between them has decreased.

21 * 10/25 * 236/200 = 9.912
about 10 mil HP is what is expected. RL and IPU should both have about half what they had before on IWBTH.

Has anyone ever seen an elemental ebony staff (like a Mjolnir staff) with a near max MDB?

At this point I am decked out in almost nothing but Mjolnir phase and an ebony staff of destruction, but I am still looking for Mjolnir pants and a near max MDB ebony Mjolnir staff.

So how long will I be looking for one, or would it be better to check the WTB forum?

I haven't quite decided whether I'll become a mage, Light Melee or Heavy Melee yet, though all my equipment happened to be Light Melee so far though someone was kind enough to give me an Ebony Staff of Destruction, so here's what my set looks like:

Fine Ethereal Shortsword of the Ox
Average Buckler of the Nimble
Average Leather Helmet of Warding
Fair Shade Breastplate of the Fleet
Superior Leather Gauntlets of the Frost-Born
Fine Leather Leggings of Warding
Fine Leather Boots of the Fire-Eater

And my build so far is:
(IMG:[sadpanda.us] http://sadpanda.us/images/841067-HLJQV5A.png)
(IMG:[sadpanda.us] http://sadpanda.us/images/841068-M3WUI9Y.png)

Am I doing well so far? Whenever I try to do IWBTH to preserve my stamina, I can't complete more than one mob in Grindfest even with potions. Anyways, I think my level is low enough that I can switch to anything on a whim if I wanted to, so I need some feedback if my items need upgrade right away or if I'm in a better position to become a mage.

Oh, and here's the Ebony Staff I got if I decide to use it to become a mage.

Superior Ebony Staff of Destruction

For Training, right now I'm mostly training either Scavenger or Ability Boost, though if I get enough Credits, I'll try to max Assimilator.

Has anyone ever seen an elemental ebony staff (like a Mjolnir staff) with a near max MDB?

At this point I am decked out in almost nothing but Mjolnir phase and an ebony staff of destruction, but I am still looking for Mjolnir pants and a near max MDB ebony Mjolnir staff.

So how long will I be looking for one, or would it be better to check the WTB forum?

Exquisite Ebony Staff of Niflheim
They are pretty rare. I don't think I got a single one back when I was still mass-offering trophies for staves.

Edit: just noticed you said MDB and not EDB. Disregard what I said then.

This post has been edited by (Cheater) Tiap: Feb 13 2012, 10:25

Has anyone ever seen an elemental ebony staff (like a Mjolnir staff) with a near max MDB?

At this point I am decked out in almost nothing but Mjolnir phase and an ebony staff of destruction, but I am still looking for Mjolnir pants and a near max MDB ebony Mjolnir staff.

So how long will I be looking for one, or would it be better to check the WTB forum?

People have Mjolnir staffs so if you make a WTB thread you could get one. But they aren't always better then Destruction staffs.
Exquisite Ebony Staff of Mjolnir
Exquisite Ebony Staff of Mjolnir
Exquisite Ebony Staff of Surtr

I've sold or tossed the others I've had.

This post has been edited by 4EverLost: Feb 13 2012, 09:41

Superior Ethereal Ebony Staff of Mjolnir

I haven't quite decided whether I'll become a mage, Light Melee or Heavy Melee yet, though all my equipment happened to be Light Melee so far though someone was kind enough to give me an Ebony Staff of Destruction

For Training, right now I'm mostly training either Scavenger or Ability Boost, though if I get enough Credits, I'll try to max Assimilator.

It can be a bit difficult to start with mage now, though the balance is always changing among each patches.

Since you need different equipments, AP distribution and stat composition for different styles, I can't really comment on your equipments now.

As for training, don't pick Assimilator. Your prof. will grow naturally, and when you slow down leveling at around lv.200, your prof. will easily catch you up.

So never pick Assimilator? I'm kind of considering Dual Wielding and using One-Handed weapons, Dual Wielding for when I really need the damage, so I thought Assimilator would be a worthwhile investment if I have two fighting styles.

EDIT: Also, any tips for attribute distribution? Right now I can just make them all the same but I'll need to specialize sooner or later.

This post has been edited by wrinty: Feb 13 2012, 10:17

Pick Assimilator only when you've tons of credits to spend.
Your prof. is bound to increase when you slow down leveling, so why spending on Assimilator when you can spend the credits on, for example, adept learner?

If you want to be a melee, you should also pick two-handed. It can help you to clear monsters with it's domino strikes.
One-handed and DW are usually used against bosses and above.

If you want to start as a light melee, you may want to pick some Kevlar of protection to start with.
At least they have some protection.

Or, if you want to start as a heavy melee, plate of protection is a good choice.

If you are indecisive on your style, keeping everything even won't hurt.

This post has been edited by varst: Feb 13 2012, 10:25