Hello all. After 15 or so climbs on the ladder, I think I’m ready to make a guide. The basics of the Magician are covered in Bo.Clerc’s guide, which is located here

I will try to further explain the advantages and disadvantages of the Magician, and how to level quickly. I’ll also show you the differences between a Magician setup that costs thousands of FG, and how you can build a relatively effective setup for a few hundred.

I’ll start with why you should or shouldn’t play as a Magician.

The advantages of playing Magacian are:
At this moment with the trend in the Trading Hall…Cheaper gear
More Consistent Damage
One skill to dump all stat points or a majority into (Intelligence)

The disadvantages of playing Mage are:
Less diversity in gear (can only wear robes, can only hold daggers and staffs)
Less defense (wear only robes)
Having to Regen both Magic and Life (Finding dual regen gear is tough, expensive, rare due to gear restrictions)

Next, I’ll provide the most popular stat allocations and what your Magician may be suited for.

Stat allocation: The most important stat to add too is Intelligence. That is what adds to your damage, and adds to your defense against Magician enemies.

Vitality: This is an important stat at low levels that can be very beneficial later on when you’re gaining levels. You can gain several hundred life to your Max Life by adding just a few points to Vitality early on.

Dexterity: This is quite helpful if your gear has no Dexterity adds on it. Dexterity will keep you out of some tough battles at high levels that you could have went down early due to being hit with a critical hit from an enemy. A few points into Dexterity is not a bad idea, by any means.

Strength: No points should be added into Strength. Let the Fighters and Barbarians worry about strength, you’ll kill your enemies by blowing them away with magic.

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The three most common ways to distribute your early stat points are:
All 10 into Vitality – This boosts your total life at high levels.
All 10 into Intelligence – This maximizes the damage your Magician will deal throughout your climb.
5 into Vitality, 5 into Intelligence – This will yield less life added at the high levels, but will help your Magician do more damage during earlier levels.

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Fast Leveling
Alright, here’s where I’ll go on record saying this is what I’ve come up with to be the FASTEST way to level throughout the game. Other methods may work, but I’ve done this enough to where I never feel like I’m waiting for a regen, things are going just fine for me.

There are two constants for the Magician that are needed on every level. Enhanced Effect must be on your charm, this is the most important skill of all gear you can wear. You need a lot of it. The more you have, the better.
Intelligence is key. Get some. Wherever you can get it, do it. It boosts your attack and protects you from magical attacks. It’s so important, you need it. You won’t live without it.


(Levels 1-15) Early Levels:
The most important skills to have on your gear during these levels are Magic per Kill and Max Life!

Magic per Kill- Provided you have a substantial amount of MpK on your gear, you will be able to kill enemy after enemy without losing any Magic. This is the equivalent to a melee character clicking endlessly, level after level, without stopping. You should try to get as much of this as possible, though I’ve been able to do levels 1-10 without stopping with as little as 100MpK combined on my 3 items.

Max Life- Depending how you spent your first stats, this could be extremely vital to pretty much just a helping hand to leveling. Max Life will keep your red bar full while your blue bar never drops, and you can keep picking off enemies. Try to get a few hundred Max Life added with your combined gear.

Other Important Stats
Intelligence- Why slash at an enemy when you can just cut it’s head off. More Intelligence means more damage, more kills, more carnage, more leveling.
You don't need a whole lot of Intelligence for early levels. I'm able to do 1-15 in under an hour with only 15 intelligence on my gear, combined.

Life per Kill or Life per Combat Round- Typically, you won’t be losing much life as you breeze by the enemies in the early stages of this game. Having these stats just help you get to where you’re going a little bit faster. 100 LpK on combined gears should make this a breeze for you.

(Levels 15-25/30) Middle Levels:
The most important change in strategy once you reach this point is now the concept of having to regen!!! You will need to buy gear that adds to life regen and magic regen! You will switch from your primary gear to your regen gear when you’re low on health and magic. To avoid doing this constantly, you’ll need good regen gear! You don’t need dual regen gear, but try to get a substantial amount of one regen type on each item (around 5+ will work just fine, no need to get crazy!)

The end point to what I consider the “middle levels” is debatable. If you’re short on FG, you’ll probably need to stretch this out to 30, but the only way you’ll know is to try my guide and find out!
The most important stats during the Middle Levels are Intelligence and Magic per Kill / Magic per Combat Round!

Intelligence- At level 15, you’ve reached the point where enemies can hurt you. Now you’ll have to hurt them harder in order to advance. Get lots of Intelligence, try for 20+ on your weapon, and 20+ on your armor!

Magic per Kill- This is still very important. You’re now having to regen, so you want to squeeze in as many battles as you can before you have to regen again. We’re trying to do this fast, aren’t we? Try to get upwards of 200MpK on your gear.

Other Important Stats
Max Life / Max Magic- Okay, this is a given. More Life and Magic means more rounds of battle, and therefore, kills, before you have to regen again.

Life per Kill- I’ve found that Life per Kill is actually pretty useful in the middle levels, I previously thought otherwise. Just a little LpK (1-50) can get you 5-10 more battles in a level, shredding minutes off your time.


(Levels 25/30-MQ) Late Levels:

Alright. If you’ve followed the suggestions, you will have reached level 30 in a few hours. If this has not happened, feel free to smack me. Seriously though, if you get the majority of the stats on your gear that have been mentioned above, you’re fine. You don’t need ALL of them, but this is what you’re aiming for. Anyway, you’re now here to the trying times of a Magician. Monsters start hitting hard, You have to regen more, and now you wonder why you chose the class that is not benefited by Life Steal. It’s cool though, we’ll get through it, I promise.

Intelligence- At level 30, you’ve reached the point where you need as much Intelligence as you can get. There’s no substitute for a massive amount of Intelligence, but if the best you can do is 30 on weapon and 30 on armor, do it, you can still kill. If you can’t get a lot of Intelligence, you’ll just need to regen more. No biggie, you’ll be regening anyway.

Magic per Kill- This is still extremely important. You’re now having to regen a great deal, so you want to squeeze in as many battles as you can before you have to regen again. Try to aim for 300+ MpK combined on armor/charm/weapon. We’re trying to do this fast, aren’t we?

Life per Combat Round- Life per Kill is now essentially useless, as you’ll only really be killing a few enemies before you have to regen again. LpCR is important in stretching out battles, keeping you alive in them, and adding to your life in case you’re hit hard but you still believe you can win the battle. Aim for a decent amount on your items, maybe try to combine for 50-100 or so.

Other Important Stats
Max Life / Max Magic- Nothing new. Get some. More Life and Magic means more rounds of battle, and therefore, kills, before you have to regen again!

Life per Kill- Don’t rely on it, and don’t bend over backwards to get it. If you have it, it will help, though it’s not crucial.

Dexterity- Helps you get hurt less by monsters. Dexterity can make or break a battle, try to get a few points in on some items if you can!

Experience Gained- Every little bit helps, folks.


---Important things to Remember!---

Mages will kill slower than Melee with Life Steal. Magicians don't have a stat like Life Steal that can keep them in battles. If you don't have a lot of Max Life, and you get hit with a critical hit, your Mage will need to run. The closest thing you can get to Life Steal on a Magician is "Life per Combat Round" on some of your items in good amounts, which is difficult.

Mods on Items
{in order of importance, what I believe to be the most important starting at the top}

1-15
Weapon/Armor
Magic per Kill
Max Life
Intelligence

Charm
Enhanced Effect

15-45
Intelligence
Max Life/Magic
Magic per Kill/Life per Kill
Enhanced Effect on the Charm

45-MQ
Intelligence
Life per Kill
Max Magic/Life
Dexterity (this is not a must, but will help)

WHICH CHARM TO CHOOSE
Okay. It wouldn’t be a guide without this. The three types of charms are infamous, as well as their benefits and drawbacks, I’ll just say this.

Ice-Most consistent damage. This is the preferred, I believe, as magicians depend on consistent damage to kill. Ice charms provide good damage, consistent damage, and you can count on them time and time again. I suggest Ice Charms if you can only get a few of the important stats listed above

Fire-Less consistent than Ice, but can cause more damage. I prefer fire charms, if you can get some Dexterity on your items, there’s no real reason not to choose Fire. Fire charms cause some damage, they’re fairly consistent, you won’t hit for 100s and you can end battles just as fine as with Ice Charms. I suggest Fire Charms if you can get most of the important stats listed above

Lightning-The backsheep, if you will. If you don’t like hitting 0s with a sword in melee, you won’t like casting for 0s with a lightning charm. You may change your mind when you cast with your lightning charm and you do more damage than Ice or Fire can do. I suggest Lightning charms if you’re able to amass a large amount of Life per Kill, Life per Combat Round, and Max life on your items.

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Enhanced Effect on your charm is your savior. 50% will be fine for 1-10. From there, try to get 100% on your charms. Level 25/30 is when you should try to start getting 150% EE + on your charms.

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And there you have it. Level your Magician up quickly. I’ll probably be editing this as I read over it to make sure I remember anything. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback, so I can alter this guide accordingly. I don’t have the perfect character, but I’d like to learn to make one


(Thank you Paparick for spotting a mistake in here, leftover from my melee/caster guide that was never posted )

This post was edited by JayKwik on Apr 11 2007 07:17am

Sticky!

Very detailed guild Jay.
But I'd love to know more about the range of the stats of the items that are suggested to use.

GJ

Alright, thanks for the feedback. I'll try to edit in as much detailed experience I have on what works and what doesn't. PM me your questions or post them here abotu specific questions on specific stats. (Like how much Intelligence on an item or how much life your Magician should have with your items)

I believe a guild for the gears for low-high investment players is needed.

I'll PM and bother you at all times don't worry

I like it very detailed ;D though i never played any caster/mage good job!

Come on over to the darkside, honey. Your FG could buy you an ItzMissAbby-like Magician setup.


Edit: If you vote no, tell me why so I can better help

This post was edited by JayKwik on Apr 11 2007 07:21am

looks pretty well laid out, not too long, points out pro's and con's very fairly.

Just the type of guide that is needed for those confused by the different mods and how they inter-act for a mage.

Even as a dumb dex rogue, this guide made sense to me



And stop trying to recruit -- you got enough guns without getting MJ in there! Talk about over-kill!! sheesh!

You know there's more Melee than Magicians out there, you know it! Argh!

And it looks like I can try out my guide first hand...again...because I have failed the MQ...again...

Typo fixed -- and grats on getting point #300!

Jay, how much life do you have at lvl 71? I have 2.5k (w/o and Max life on items) and I put first 15 points into vit. I already tried 10 before and I feel 15 is much more safe when taking crits imo.

Also, try and find decent EE on weapons so you don't get pissed off when they are at like 100 life and you run out of mana.