How is mysticism for pvm?

[Tye]

any good?

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Highly limited imo. You've basically got Colossus and a ton of defense (Stone Form/Healing Stone/Cleansing Wind) In order to get more offense out of it I personally think it works better as a dexxer hybrid. As a caster I think it's too high a point investment for one Summon and 3 spells that are the equivalent of Mage spells (Nether = Arrow, Eagle = Fireball, Bombard = Energy Bolt - refering to cast times/mana cost the damage types of the Mysticism ones are not particularly good as you want to target an opponents weakest resist.) Plus with Magery you get more damage types, more spells, more support spells, and the option of a Mage Weapon.

 

[Tuan]

While yes, the spells are the damage/mana/cast equivalent of some mage spells, I often find them less effective. Most monsters have physical as their highest resist, and bombard does physical... so it's often times less effective than EB. With mage spells you at least get to choose from hitting against fire or energy resist for whichever is lower.

I've seen it used to great effect as a bard/mystic where you disco and use the colossus, but this isn't terribly effective against groups, or when you've got to move around a lot.

 

[Merlin]

It is EXCELLENT for PVM.

Here is my template:

Magery 100 (120 with Crystalline Ring)
Eval Intel 120
Mysticism 120
Focus 80 (120 with Crystalline Ring, obedience belt and talisman)
Resisting Spells 110
Meditation 72
Spellweaving 118

You can tweak the template to your preference. This is my primary character I play. The main spell book I use also has +10 meditation and +10 resisting spells.

And as Tuan noted, Bard/Mystic is also effective template to play.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

While yes, the spells are the damage/mana/cast equivalent of some mage spells, I often find them less effective.

Exactly my point. In all honesty I think Necro/Mage is probably the most versatile of the caster builds. You have all the damage types and spells to enhance your other spells.

 

[Tuan]

It is EXCELLENT for PVM.

Here is my template:

Magery 100 (120 with Crystalline Ring)
Eval Intel 120
Mysticism 120
Focus 80 (120 with Crystalline Ring, obedience belt and talisman)
Resisting Spells 110
Meditation 72
Spellweaving 118

You can tweak the template to your preference. This is my primary character I play. The main spell book I use also has +10 meditation and +10 resisting spells.

And as Tuan noted, Bard/Mystic is also effective template to play.

In this build, it looks like Mystic is more or a 2ndary, or maybe tertiary skill. In this case, what spells are you primarily casting?

 

[Merlin]

In this build, it looks like Mystic is more or a 2ndary, or maybe tertiary skill. In this case, what spells are you primarily casting?

With most mobs or bosses, I will cast an RC and fight around it. I will primarily heal using Cleansing Winds, but also use Hail Storm, Eagle Strike, Bombard and Spell Plague quite a bit for offensive skills. I will hit Mass Sleep to slow down some bigger groups a bit and hit an area effect spell like Hail Storm. Going into Stone Form to boost up resists is useful, especially if you're fighting a boss or mob that poisons you a lot. Don't rule out Nether Cyclone either. I can do that with either that full Mysitc Mage Spellweaver template I posted above, or Mystic Bard templates I've played in the past (where I would obviously be using masteries along with it).

 

[Tuan]

IF your primary offensive capabilities come from Mystic spells, then isn't 240 skill points worth of magery and eval a bit wasteful?

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Trouble is Nether Cyclone is Chaos damage, and it's a big chunk of mana to potentially waste hitting the targets highest resist, compared to say Necro/Mage where you can Corpse/FS/Omen.

 

[Spart]

Exactly my point. In all honesty I think Necro/Mage is probably the most versatile of the caster builds. You have all the damage types and spells to enhance your other spells.

What does e current Necro Mage temp consist of these days? I made a Mystic Mage, and like you said, it does seem very limited. It does ok if I can unload a lot of damage quickly, but I get interrupted way more often than I feel comfortable with. I have an old Necro Mage, but I'm thinking the template may need updating, and he's red, so I have plenty of time to work on him My current temp looks like this:

110 Eval
110 Magery
100 Necro
100 Spirit Speak
100 Meditation
100 Wrestling
100 Resist

I'm thinking maybe drop Wrestling for Inscribe, and maybe 120 Magery and 120 Eval, and 80 Meditation??

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

The one I've been using for a long time is:

12o Mage (and 20 for a Mage Weapon)
120 Eval
100 Resist (120 from items)
80 Med
100 Inscription
100 Necro
100 SS

 

[Merlin]

IF your primary offensive capabilities come from Mystic spells, then isn't 240 skill points worth of magery and eval a bit wasteful?

The template is a pure spell caster template. I use a bit of everything really... it depends on what you're fighting and what their respective weaknesses are. While I do probably use Mysticism the most, I just don't know what I would replace Eval with if I were to take that skill off. Just haven't seen any reason to dump it for something else.

 

[Merus]

I went with:
120 mystic
120 focus
120 spellweaving
110 mediation
100 magery
100 spirit speak
50 necromancy

on a gargoyle.

Med comes in handy for crowds when you wanna flap around, wraith form for bosses to leech from attack spells and WOD.

 

[Dizzy]

It's interesting that some are less enamored with Mysticism for PvM, while in the Treasure Hunting forum, it seems to be the most recommended skill.

My t-hunter for years was a provo/mage -

100 Cartography
100 Lockpicking
110 Magery
100 Eval Int
90 Meditation
120 Provocation
100 Music

This worked excellently through L5 treasure hunts, but it breaks down at L6. Ancient Wyrms are particularly problematic, being difficult to provoke and their self-healing is faster than mana regeneration. I would often be able to redline an SW, only to frustratingly watch it heal while I meditated. I haven't attempted an L7 yet, the frost dragons and changelings particularly difficult is what I've heard. Most recommend the Rising Collosus as the solution.

So I finally stoned off Provo/Music and rebuilding,

100 Cartography
100 Lockpicking
120 Mysticism
100 Spellweaving
120 Focus
100 Magery
80 Eval Int

Is the new template.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

This worked excellently through L5 treasure hunts, but it breaks down at L6. Ancient Wyrms are particularly problematic, being difficult to provoke and their self-healing is faster than mana regeneration. I would often be able to redline an SW, only to frustratingly watch it heal while I meditated. I haven't attempted an L7 yet, the frost dragons and changelings particularly difficult is what I've heard. Most recommend the Rising Collosus as the solution.

I know this is off topic but I love using my bard on maps. People are surprised by how easy I make it. All they have to do is hide/loot/force spawn and I take care of all the spawn keeping it off of them, tieing it up, Discord/Despair/Tribulation/summons to beat down the singles. Provoke/Discord is pretty unbeatable on maps and quite a few things, especially when you can select the damage type. But... that of course isn't on the same template as the T-hunter.

I think most people play fairly lazily and use Mysticism as a one trick pony with Colossus, I just find that boring.

 

[Dizzy]

I know this is off topic but I love using my bard on maps. People are surprised by how easy I make it. All they have to do is hide/loot/force spawn and I take care of all the spawn keeping it off of them, tieing it up, Discord/Despair/Tribulation/summons to beat down the singles. Provoke/Discord is pretty unbeatable on maps and quite a few things, especially when you can select the damage type. But... that of course isn't on the same template as the T-hunter.

I think most people play fairly lazily and use Mysticism as a one trick pony with Colossus, I just find that boring.

I loved playing my t-hunter, it's been my main character from my first year of playing. And being a bard was a big part of the identity, dancing among the monsters, balancing damage among them, watching them all fall simultaneously. Great fun. I just found even with 120 Provo and 110 music the fails too big on the ancient wyrms, and with 90 Meditation (all I had room for), I couldn't regenerate mana faster than the AW could heal itself. I had considered all worst of jewelry / suits / soulstone swapouts on the fly, but the bottom line was that my favorite skill Provocation just wasn't up to the task of L6 and L7 chests. I'm still training Mysticism as we speak, and stoned away Provocation for another day.