[X] My Assistant

Don't shrine with those that give you equips. At your level they're probably crap compared to those around. If you shrine them later, it's like free leveling of those equips, since the level of equips received= your level

The others i don't really see a difference, spend away. If you can see yourself getting any of the crystal perks soon feel free to save till then too.

Lowbies won't profit from doing that. Seriously, turn them in and sell it if it's crap. Use the credits then for something useful. Better yet. Before asking whether to keep trophies... he should've asked if he should waste blood tokens on anything other than the gods. (Except for 1st time clears of course.) The answer is: instead of collecting trophies, keep your tokens of blood until you're high enough to farm FSM. Noodly Appendage will give you less crap and it's worth collecting.
But trophies from rares (and even legendaries) aren't worth collecting. They're items that are quick to cash into some loose change and have a miniscule chance of netting you something good. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

As for me, i don't recommend it. The faster you level up, the more your proficiencies will lack behind. And at lower levels the gain is minimal too. I think the trainer offers a better deal.

Ok.

Proficiencies... should never be used as a reason to slow down the leveling. The greater the difference between level and proficiency, the quicker the gain.

I would argue this is always the golden rule though:
Health Tank/Mana Tank > Rest

100 levels of adept learner is a pretty decent start as well. Make it 50 levels if you're not economically sound.

I already got 50 levels and I'm going to keep increasing as I can.

Thanks.

hmmm should really try out those spells, have enough AP to max both.

Usually start off the start 5 arena rounds at heroic with haste

6 rounds to 15 rounds at hard

The rest at normal

Spare Blood tokens used for ROB 4 bosses

This post has been edited by zzc: Nov 5 2011, 02:42

Lowbies won't profit from doing that. Seriously, turn them in and sell it if it's crap. Use the credits then for something useful. Better yet. Before asking whether to keep trophies... he should've asked if he should waste blood tokens on anything other than the gods. (Except for 1st time clears of course.) The answer is: instead of collecting trophies, keep your tokens of blood until you're high enough to farm FSM. Noodly Appendage will give you less crap and it's worth collecting.
But trophies from rares (and even legendaries) aren't worth collecting. They're items that are quick to cash into some loose change and have a miniscule chance of netting you something good. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I am just doing them once for the cash now. I wasted 2 tokens re-killing the first tier guys on Hard before I wised up.

I'm doing the Tier 2 guys on Hard now, should probably just do normal to clear them though I guess. Did Yuki on normal and it was so easy I did Konata on Hard.

For zzc I'd just echo everyone else. Get some debuffs(I just have Poison now) and keep them up. If you want an edge check the bestiary to see what they are weak to,what they attack with and burn some infusions. Knock them down to 20% or so then hit 'em with Spirit. I'm only mid-80s but I have zero trouble with any ROB bosses so far as a 2H melee. Maybe get regen and keep that up. Combined with mace stuns/Haste it really adds up to a ton of healing for a relatively low cost.

[attachmentid=9535] [attachmentid=9536][attachmentid=9537]

Crappy Eq:
Staff
Cap
Robe
Glove
Leg
Foot

Style: Staff (Caster)

Anyone can advice what stat I should add or I should leave?
Also, mana is consumed too fast (cure & protection (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) ) Any way to help this?

I also need some education on choosing equipments. What are the primary stat for a caster?

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Character_Stats

Put points into HP and MP tanks before EXP tanks. Always.

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Character_Stats

Put points into HP and MP tanks before EXP tanks. Always.

Hmm, I checked that MP tank does not affect MP regen. So if I move 12 points in exp tanks to 12 points in mp tanks, I gain around 36 more mp but 36% exp less. Assume that I can do 30 rounds in grindfest each time, if I want to make up for the 36% exp, then I have to do like 10 more rounds, which is clearly not possible with only 36 additional mana (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (At best I need 2 AOE spells to clear a round, around 6mp cost). Can you elaborate more?

Go and get some elementalist/fox clothes. They're much better than the cotton ones in terms of offensive/mana abilities.

As for exp tank, if you want to power-level, you can keep that.
Otherwise, mp tank should responds properly to your 'mana is consumed too fast' problem.

tried debuffs - quite useful in stopping the 1shot attacks from legendary.

Is void damage more useful than the element weakness in ROB?

Ethereal weapons are especially useful for Bosses because they tend to have lots of resistances, but no monsters have resistance to Void damage. If you get an Ethereal weapon, make sure it does Void damage, since older Ethereals dealt Soul damage instead.

Hmm, I checked that MP tank does not affect MP regen. So if I move 12 points in exp tanks to 12 points in mp tanks, I gain around 36 more mp but 36% exp less. Assume that I can do 30 rounds in grindfest each time, if I want to make up for the 36% exp, then I have to do like 10 more rounds, which is clearly not possible with only 36 additional mana (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (At best I need 2 AOE spells to clear a round, around 6mp cost). Can you elaborate more?

Time for you to spend some credits on ability boost training.
As I can see it, you only have 3 levels in it, it's pretty cheap that early, the time to train it is the biggets cost.

And AP is really nice, don't let the old highbies fool you about saying that AP isn't a problem and you'll have more than enough to fill out anything and everything you want.
Because that is a long way off, and relies on not only having high levels and high ability boost training, but also on having received a very large amount of artifacts, which have turned into bonus AP.


Anyways, mana tank gives you 36% more mana, which for you isn't that much, but it will increase steadily, as you increase your stats.
Unlike exp tanks.

But exp tanks really do work, and early on, arenas are not very long and mages can replenish mana with ether theft if the need should arise.
I'd say stick with exp tanks if you want, they do make you level up faster, and means you get more out of each round you play, even if you can play fewer rounds.

Problem is that mages are a bit more intensive on AP than melees, needing more spells.

@FiniteA: It won't be until you hit level 100 that you'll really get a chance at stockpiling AP, since until that point you gain new ability tiers every 10 levels.

Investing in Ability Boost at that stage will be your main method of gaining AP to spend on other abilities since if you care about getting all the EXP, HP, and MP tanks, that 9 points right there. Don't bothering investing in Spirit Tank/Overcharge Boost at your level, as those AP can be saved for buffs/debuffs/inventory slots.

Are you casting debuffs? I hope you're casting debuffs, because they'll make your life a hell of a lot easier against bosses.

... or really long battles in any game. Poor depreciating spells are never recognized.

Poor deprecating spells indeed.

As a melee (just been trying out mageing a little, didn't like it), supportive, curative and deprecating are still spells you need to be working with.
And neither of them needs intelligence, other than for a larger mana pool and a tiny bit of magic accuracy for deprecating spells.

Supportive spells are a given, they simply make you better.
Curative are needed for life, and for newbies out there, keep in mind that regen (both I and II) is far superior to cure (which you only need cure I), once you start getting some proficiency in curative spells. They give far more health per mana point than cure, and so casting it before you are in desperate need of health will help keep you alive at a much lower mana cost than casting cure.
Deprecating spells are also awesome. Weaken is really good, it halves their melee damage and prevents them from doing critical hits. This radically cuts down their damage output.
Silence prevents them from casting spells and special attacks, meaning no one hit kills (except for a really hard melee crit).
You can't use both silence and weaken on the same target, they cancel each other out.
But once you get spirit shield (yeah, a long way off, I know) you can cast spirit shield on yourself to reduce the damage of their special attacks and weaken on them to make their normal attacks really weak. And poison to do a bit of extra damage and make their regen for special attacks be slower.
With that combination, bosses turns into long boring mana-gauntlets, since they can't take you down, at least not as long as you have regen running.

Also, toying a bit, higher level, with using forbidden soul spells as a melee. For regening spirit points, which could make spirit attacks a bit more viable, and for the damage over time with soulfire.
I'm just wondering how much damage will be dealt by a poison + soulfire + Lifestream combo.

@FiniteA: It won't be until you hit level 100 that you'll really get a chance at stockpiling AP, since until that point you gain new ability tiers every 10 levels.

Investing in Ability Boost at that stage will be your main method of gaining AP to spend on other abilities since if you care about getting all the EXP, HP, and MP tanks, that 9 points right there. Don't bothering investing in Spirit Tank/Overcharge Boost at your level, as those AP can be saved for buffs/debuffs/inventory slots.

The problem with that is that mages will need extra AP just for their offensive spells.
Which is kinda the reason that melees are better, or at least easier, early on.

I don't think high-level players are fooling anyone on AP intentionally. That shouldn't be the word to be used.

If I have to say, about 40 levels of ability boost should be enough.
That should be around 10k credits, and if you want more AP, you can go and buy some artifacts, which also have chance to give you primary attributes.

As for that 'too many AP' problem experienced by older players, I would say nowadays it's more difficult to obtain AP through artifacts once you obtained most of those additional primary attributes.
My experience now is that about 20-30 artifacts are required to obtain 1 AP from artifacts, which is a much slimmer chance than before.
That's why the older players' advice might not work now.

However, putting too much credits into ability boost is also a waste when you attain high level.
At lv.279 I can fill my exp/hp/mp tank, having enough offensive spells to use, and having all the useful buff/debuff spells.
And some 50 AP are put into SP tank, which isn't even needed for lower-level mages.

Also, toying a bit, higher level, with using forbidden soul spells as a melee. For regening spirit points, which could make spirit attacks a bit more viable, and for the damage over time with soulfire.
I'm just wondering how much damage will be dealt by a poison + soulfire + Lifestream combo.

Not much, as a mage strategy it's a waste of mana. Melee might have the mana to burn though, I dunno. My profs are capped, Poison does ~1.4K per tick for 205 ticks, Soul Fire ~5K per tick for 5 ticks (bosses+), Lifestream 170 damage for 59 ticks. Also the T2 soul spells don't proc the Ripened Soul effect (if that was what you were implying).

Poison does ~1.4K per tick for 205 ticks
Soul Fire ~5K per tick for 5 ticks (bosses+)
Lifestream 170 damage for 59 ticks.

One of these things is not like the others... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

One of these things is not like the others... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

So Poison is way better than the others?

Hm....the odd one out.....poison, because it's DOT can actually be useful? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Soul fire's DOT is rubbish; I don't remember any strategy that relies on that.
Lifestream is even worse because it's DOT diminishes with monster's current hp.

Poison is useful for players around lv.70-150 to fight against legends/gods. It not only gives DOT (which can accumulate for tons of damage), but also can halves monster's mp/sp regen rate.

and It also reduces the enemy's dodge rate right?