About mage's stats/skills

[aznguy001]

Okay I'm rather new here and need a little assistance on making a mage. Is there any rules about mages I should know? Like what stats to get, what to avoid at all costs, whether or not to level certain spells, etc.

Also about "upgrading" skills, from what I've read skills such as fire bolt can upgrade into fire ball later on. Does this mean it's the same skill but becomes stronger? Or is it a whole new variation of a fire spell? I'm wondering because I'm deciding whether or not to empower previous skills and let it carry over when it upgrades, if they're completely different skills then I'd assume that the fire bolt empowerment won't go on to fire ball. I'm not 100% sure on how these skill things work so please enlighten me on any information you believe is useful. Thanks for your time!

[LongshotFoxx]

Hi! And yes, there are a lot of things you should know if you want to be good at a mage.

As for the firebolt and fireball, unfortunately, no. It's a completely new spell. Whatever skill points you put into firebolt will not transfer into fireball.

Also, about general things to know:
Read this first: http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28029
Then read this: http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139652

If you'll notice, both of them say mm1 is better than any mm until the last mm upgrade. I partially agree with this. At around level 40, upgrade mm. Although mm1 may give more mdmg in the long run, the upgraded mm will take down the monster before it gets to you. That is essential.

As for build, it's obvious. Enhance your already strong points. Put INT into your free stats and somewhere add 25 SPR for crit.

Hope this helps.

[aznguy001]

Oh thanks, that's very helpful =D

[sething]

yes as the guide states rank1 magic missle has a shorter cooldown time, and with empowerments is a lot better DPS than the higher rank MM....when i spoke to you in game you didnt have magic burst, and i forgot to tell you where to get it! go to the item merchant nina in elderine, she has several skills you get at specific levels that cost fame as opposed to money...its a very good skill at low levels....abuse these forums everyone will be able to give you very good information...

[LongshotFoxx]

Oh thanks, that's very helpful =D

No problem! I'm glad you came here with all of your questions first, It's going to save you later.

I had a lot of questions about the mage, and I decided to wing it. I ended up finding out I screwed up everything with my level 36 mage, which I had to start over since I didn't want to spend sc. Since I only play about an hour every day on the weekends, with some exceptions, that took me forever. XP

Glad I could help, and I also hope you didn't have to restart your mage, lol!:p

[WolfAngel9414]

I personally found empowering MM1 to be a total waste. After you get magic blast, those 5 points on CD are poopy :c


I'd say to do for your build:
25 spr rest int [If you're non-SC]
33/50 dex rest in
Pure int [not recommended in my opinion, but to each his own]


Avoid str, some mages like end in their build, but I find it to be a futile effort.


Max attack and CD on magic blast [Lv49]
Max duration and CD on fear[60]
Max CD on nova[60]
Max CD on inferno [67]
Max duration and CD on Stifle [73]


This will still leave you with points to play with. I put max attack on fireball, but that was mainly for PvP. It's useful in PvE, and you don't have many other skills until 100 worth empowering, but it's still up to you.


All of your lower level skills such as ice bolt, fire bolt, etc are not very useful. The only one you'll continue to use religiously will be magic burst. Some mages enjoy full CD on this for grind parties, and that may be what you want to do instead of max attack on fireball, but I found it useless with charms at 9x.


Let me know if you're curious about anything else [: In a way all of this is opinionated, but a lot of these empowerments are identical on every mage.

[darknightofwind]

What about empowering chain cast for cd?
Also, do you really need to empower stifle for cd/dura if you don't plan to pvp?
I know it's useful for things like 10x kq, Helga/Karen, and boss type mobs in general, but would the 10 points be better spent elsewhere (or could you get away with only 5 dura or 5 cd)?

If I remember right damage is empowerable on Nova too, is that a waste?

[LongshotFoxx]

What about empowering chain cast for cd?
Also, do you really need to empower stifle for cd/dura if you don't plan to pvp?
I know it's useful for things like 10x kq, Helga/Karen, and boss type mobs in general, but would the 10 points be better spent elsewhere (or could you get away with only 5 dura or 5 cd)?

If I remember right damage is empowerable on Nova too, is that a waste?

Chain Cast CD empower: Most mages say it's a waste, but I plan to anyway. Having an extra of any spell every 3 minutes is 25% faster than every 4.

Stifle: Naw, you don't if you're not much of a PvP-er. Put it into CD on Nova or Inferno. Oh yeah, damage on Nova and Inferno is a waste. Check the wiki here: http://www.fiestafan.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mage_Skills
You know, I don't know much about stifle. But it seems to be a weak version of fear, as far as I can tell. Not sure.

Yes, the 10 points could be spent better elsewhere. If you plan to be a Wizard, comboing CC with the skeles might be a very fast PvE combo. Since I party frequently, I put 5 into CD on Life Tap. Free SP from clerics. :D
One thing to remember about life tap: Make sure the cleric is ok with you using it every 10 seconds. Also make sure they are good at what they do. You don't want to use life tap to end up committing suicide by your own mistake.:p

[imeel]

What about empowering chain cast for cd?
Also, do you really need to empower stifle for cd/dura if you don't plan to pvp?
I know it's useful for things like 10x kq, Helga/Karen, and boss type mobs in general, but would the 10 points be better spent elsewhere (or could you get away with only 5 dura or 5 cd)?

If I remember right damage is empowerable on Nova too, is that a waste?

Empowering CC its a waste, dont do it. Also nova max dmg empower is very useless.
Stifle max cooldown is a must if u plan to pvp, duration just add one point (+1 point = 1.5 seconds, +5 points = 3seconds) 1.5+ seconds doesnt worth 4 skill points, and if ure pvping a mage, he can dispel it anyway.

[ale.wilkins]

Empowering CC its a waste, dont do it. Also nova max dmg empower is very useless.
Stifle max cooldown is a must if u plan to pvp, duration just add one point (+1 point = 1.5 seconds, +5 points = 3seconds) 1.5+ seconds doesnt worth 4 skill points, and if ure pvping a mage, he can dispel it anyway.

in my personal opinion, empowering chaincast is NOT a waste, for pvp and for pve. i use a shackle set for my 95 blues, and cd'd with that set, it cools in 1 min and 42s thats around the same as fear.

i dont use the inferno set because fireball is useless along with the other single shots besides ice bolt cause it's really just meant to slow people down rather than to cause damage, as well as it being faster and immediate cast, and lightning blast, cause it takes off violence. if not empowering some skills.


i agree with nova damage being useless as well. mages are basically perma charmed when they are grinding and damage on the nova wont cover up for not being charmed.


i do agree with the stifle thing too. i didnt empower my stifle at all, though i have 2 points left from 1o5 skills, im just saving them for later on.

[imeel]

in my personal opinion, empowering chaincast is NOT a waste, for pvp and for pve. i use a shackle set for my 95 blues, and cd'd with that set, it cools in 1 min and 42s thats around the same as fear.

i dont use the inferno set because fireball is useless along with the other single shots besides ice bolt cause it's really just meant to slow people down rather than to cause damage, as well as it being faster and immediate cast, and lightning blast, cause it takes off violence. if not empowering some skills.


i agree with nova damage being useless as well. mages are basically perma charmed when they are grinding and damage on the nova wont cover up for not being charmed.


i do agree with the stifle thing too. i didnt empower my stifle at all, though i have 2 points left from 1o5 skills, im just saving them for later on.

There are special circunstances about the CC empowering, u use a shackle set by example, thats till lvl 95 and even getting a CD of 1 min and 42seconds, i rarely pvp that long to use it "again". At PvE, i rarely use CC to aoe. I just find useful CC skills like fear (sometimes stifle) and ice field. But its personally, i feel there are better skills to empower (as a warlock).

[Infestation]

Ok I'm not a super serious pvp mage, meaning I don't run around any FBZ for hours of my day, but on occasion I do. However I rarely miss a PvP KQ, that and LN and Honeying KQ are my favorite parts of this game. I've found the points into the cooldown on CC extremely valuable there since very often I'm having to deal with 3 people at once, and having dual fear up and ready over a minute faster has saved me a lot of times. But like I said for me those are points well spent because they make one of my favorite parts of the game more enjoyable. Bottom line if you find something you love, put points into skills that will help you most for that.

[WolfAngel9414]

Stifle CD/Dura I did find useful, for farming/HG raids/PvP - it is optional, but it's not just useful in PvP.

I didn't find CD on CC useful. I guess it's just because I'm in the 10x's, but I've ended up using CC for just double inferno or stifle in raids. Haven't CC'd fear in forever - in PvP it's a knee-jerk reaction for me anyway: I've got half a second to tab and fear that guy before I get dropped. =P