I've invested several hrs into testing different builds.
Last time I pulled info on which classes had the highest amount of levels, mage was last in all the level ranges. I can see a lot of people getting frustrated with mage, because with the wrong build, it is not an enjoyable experience. Books of alts aren't easy to obtain when you're a new player.
Many of the guides and builds posted ive seen have been talking about how to aim for the highest, highest dps, support, etc. which is very costly, but that is pretty much the point.
A full dps build as usually requested is what u will get, without cloak of fire prob, but, i think, that instead of repeating the posts, i suggest u make a guide, the begginer mage, and add a link to this thread.
I find the begginer guides just as useful as any other guides, but i also think they're much harder to make, to me it seems u can do it, and it'll be very useful, i know i'll read it and comment, and hopefully it'll get sticked, need more guides, and not just guides for the end game mage, how to be a full dps, the begginers have their own problems.
One thing i cant agree with u about, and that is no lure, Lure > Attune on most cases, lure will increase the dps greatly, which will increase the killing rate with less skills spamming, therefore less energy usage, and lure doesnt take too much energy, need to cast usually one per mob, and very useful at least after lvl 20 when u can invest pts in it.
And since the suggestion includes Cloak of Fire as a must dps skill, i would also rather u recommending a fire mage over ice mage, not only it'll match the cloak (lure), considering ice mages can one hit everything until some point, but ice is much more costly and risky dps, i think its much easier to handle fire mage, the energy cost is lower while dps is higher, and firebolt imo is an amazing skill, for any build at any lvl, its just one of the best dps skills if not the best (yes i still think firebolt can compete and even beat shadowstrike, considering its poison and thats heat dmg, theres dmg and cooldown gap, and as it seems on end game bosses shadow misses much more often).
And a question Bobert, a DoT skill, could work in a similar way to Cloak of Fire, would u recommend to get a DoT skill (frostbite/inc) for the starter mage? the energy cost shouldnt be high, if its inc the dmg is decent, but the only problem is that it wont work with fire attune, so maybe if there are any extra extra pts, or any way to get it in the build, well just a thought tho.
Let me go into why I am recommending Cloak of Fire regardless of going ice or fire. When you start on the beach, you already have firebolt. The first quest will get you to lvl 2 and gives cloak of fire with one skill point. I am encouraging new mages to use that point in Cloak of fire. At 5 cloak of fire, your max damage should be around 20 every time you're hit. Firebolt, with 1 skill point, will have a has around 30. This is enough to get you through the quests that get you to the castle, where you get Ice Shards. Ice shards at 1 skill point will do around 80-90.
Let's look at energy cost per minute:
- Cloak of fire: Casting Cloak of fire which lasts 2 minutes, with 5 skill points, 7 energy cost, which is 3.5 per minute. The damage per minute can vary depending on how often you're hit and if you're hit by several targets, but at 5 skill points, it will average around 10 out from a 20 max, without lure of fire, around every 3 seconds. Over 1 minute, that is 200 damage at 3.5 energy cost. Max damage would be 400 per minute and average would be 200 with a cost of 3.5 energy.
- Fire Bolt: Firebolt can be casted 8 times per minute, and at 1 skill point it will have a max hit at 32, averaging around 16 per cast, and costing 3 energy per cast. So in 1 minute, max damage would be 256 damage with average damage of 128 per minute. The energy cost would be 24 energy per minute.
- Ice Shard: Ice Shard can be casted 4 times per minute, with 90 damage at 1 skill point averaging 45 per hit and costing 5 energy per cast. Max damage would be 360 per minute with an average of 180 per minute at a cost of 20 energy per minute.
- Frostbite: Frostbite, casted 2 times per minute, at 8 points it gives an initial 75 and the 39 dot x 6. So 2 initials is 150 max, 75 average, and 12 dots would be 468 damage, 234 average. Your damage per minute from frostbite would be max 618 but average 309 at a cost of 48 energy.
- Ice Attune: At 15 points, it gives 4 x damage from ice shards per minute and 2.5 x damage from Ice Blast. The damage max is 349 and will probably average half. The energy cost is 39 and the skill lasts 3 minutes, so it is 13 energy cost per minute. Let's look at the damage. (4 x 349) = 1396 for ice shards per minute and 872.5 from ice blast per minute. The max ice attunement gives per minute is 2268.5 with average damage around 1134 per minute, at a cost of 13 energy!!!
- Fire Attune: at 15 points, it gives 8 x damage from fire bolt, and if you are lucky enough to get firestorm, another 3.5 damage per minute. Let's be serious, getting firestorm will be an extreme challenge for a new player. So let's only consider the bonus from firebolt. 15 skill points gives 253 damage per cast at 39 energy cost, the energy cost is 13 per minute. 253 x 8 is 2024 damage, with an average around 1012 per minute, at a cost of 13 energy!!
Incinerate is a red book quest so you wont be able to get that until after level 50, so we should not consider it. I don't consider frostbite to be used because the energy cost is high for the damage return. I suggest cloak instead because Cloak is a great farming skill for crooks or catacombs. There's also not enough skill points to go into frostbite because you need them for eboost and eshield.
Let's consider that the skill energy boost isn't given until you complete a few quests in crooks and near the temple. You're going to be fighting level 12-13 mobs when you get to the skill energy boost.
Regarding Lures. If you can get lure to drop the resist down to 0, you will hit between 50-100 percent of your max, averaging 75 percent damage. Without lure, on lvl 1-60 mobs, you're going to average around 50 percent of your damage. The main issue is finding the skill points for lure until the level 50's. After level 50, I suggest throwing points into lure until it is 10. You're going to need lure for Stonevale wisps. But early mobs don't have high resist and you'll be killing them with 1-2 skills regardless of lure or now. I feel it's a waste of time to cast it half the time, only needing it for 3-4 stars.
Cloak of Fire will work with fire or ice. After you reach level 70, you could consider dropping it if you're ice. You'd be strong enough to finish the quest for a free alt book in catacombs. You'd also have the quest in stonevale for a free alt and rebirth. Save the rebirth.
On Epona, I went fire and easily made it to level 52 with only 66 deaths. It took me around 2 weeks of casually playing, possibly only 12-13 gaming hrs and a lot spent collecting presents.. My fire build and the 8 skills on my skill bar: 4 Lure of fire, 16 Cloak of fire, 15 Fire attunement, 1 firebolt, 1 ice shards, 11 energy shield, 10 energy boost, 1 bandage wounds.
On Crom, I went ice and easily made it to level 40 with 14 deaths, all within a day. I had the skills ice attune and ice blast on the beach thanks to a friend, but i still added points into cloak as I would have without having those skills. I did collect over 300 presents (worth 15,000 gold) within the day I played, which would have bought me the ice attune and ice blast skills. My ice build and the 8 skills on my bar: cloak of fire 9, energy boost 10, energy shield 10, ice shards 1, ice blast 1, ice attunement 15, lure of ice 1, bandage wounds 1.
Both experiences went very well. I am able to continue killing on both characters with ease on my level mobs. I could grind the twisted tunnels until level 61 without a problem. I believe both builds would continue to find success on wisps in Stonevale, but would both need points in lure. I believe levels 50-60 is when you want to start adding points in Lure. I would get them up to 10. Cloak of fire becomes less important for an ice mage as mobs start to have high resist. At level 70 is when an ice mage should consider alting, to drop cloak of fire.
When should you add points into your primary damage skills? I believe you should do so when you start getting luxury items with energy regen. At level 50, try to buy an energy regen ring. Your energy boost should provide energy to recover energy shield cost, so let your luxury provide spell cost. Build spell damage up as you gain energy regen from lux.
Lvl 191 Mage, to lazy to level past that.
Lvl 150 Druid
Rhiannon
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