Old school Mage / Archer still any good?

[imported_Hawkeye_Pike]

I just rejoined UO after 6 years break, just to find that all my once most powerful characters will need some tweaking. I'm not sure about my Mage char though. His skills are:

100 Magery
100 Archery
100 Tactics
100 Magic Resist
100 Eval Intelligence
100 Meditation
100 Wrestling

I was wondering if I should drop either Mager or Archery and go for a pure Archer / Mage character. Maybe learn Spellweaving or Necromancy instead? What would you suggest? I'd hate to drop Magery cause it was a pain in the ass to raise it to 100.

Thanks!
Hawkeye Pike

 

[imported_GFY]

With the changes since you left combining tamplates with magery is harder and less effective then it used to be.

The replacement for the mage/archer is the Paladin Archer or Samouri Paladin. Check out the Archer forum for more info on these.

If you want to keep a mage template, the scribe-mage and the necro-mage are the 2 best ones going at the moment.

Before you change your characters around find some soul stones. These allow you to remove a skill from a character on your account and either save it for later use or transfer it to another character on the same account. These have made character switching a lot easier and less time consuming.

Welcome back!

 

[Guest]

Archer mages are still viable but rare because they're underpowered compared to other templates. If you make one, make sure to max out DCI. I personally use a crossbow on mine for mortal strike/concussion blow, and the template is simply just 6x120:

Magery
Med
Eval
Resist
Archery
Tactics

 

[imported_Hawkeye_Pike]

Thanks for your helpful answer! Where can I find soul stones?

<blockquote><hr>

With the changes since you left combining tamplates with magery is harder and less effective then it used to be.

The replacement for the mage/archer is the Paladin Archer or Samouri Paladin. Check out the Archer forum for more info on these.

If you want to keep a mage template, the scribe-mage and the necro-mage are the 2 best ones going at the moment.

Before you change your characters around find some soul stones. These allow you to remove a skill from a character on your account and either save it for later use or transfer it to another character on the same account. These have made character switching a lot easier and less time consuming.

Welcome back!

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[imported_Hawkeye_Pike]

Another thing: Is spellweaving any good for a mage?

 

[imported_Merv_DeGriff]

Spell weaving if good for PVM support for a mage, although it is very mana hungry and needs a good focus to reach the godlike top end effects. For PvP your skill points may be better in other areas.

It supplies a reagent free psyco bladespirit, a shapechange that boosts SDI, a spell that adds about 50+ SDI for for 30 seconds (roughly depending on focus level.), a great PvE finisher in word of death, and good spawn clean up in wildfire, along with other miscelaneous bits.

By yourself you can make a level 1 focus.. which is ok. Not good, just ok. If you have 5 or 6 friends, then you can make a nice level 5 to 6 focus. With one of these all SW effects a heavily amplified and spells like word of death will tear into peerless and champion spawns when below about 1/3 health.

You will want a good amount of mana to use them however.

 

[imported_GFY]

You can get soul stones by using reward tolkens. *WARNING* Don't buy a soul stone from someone else however, once you claim them with your reward tolken they are only for your account.

Soul stone fragments are useful as well but they have a limited amount of uses. Not bad for storing a skill you won't be using right away however.

 

[Sam the Scribe]

Hello and welcome back!

I currently run an Archer/Mage (almost legendary archer). Probably the most frustrating thing you will find is the availability of good spellchanneling bows. But it is very handy to have a char that does range damage in two different forms. Run outta manna? Just keep plugging away with the bow.

As for Spellweaving, I'll respectfully disagree with the other poster. I have found that Natures Fury is an effective spell and uses very little manna. It casts faster than an EV and is an excellent distraction for monsters. I've also noticed that they seem to get dispelled less than EV's but overall do less damage. However anything that will keep a dragon from chasing me around is just fine with me.

My "Pure Mage" is 120 Magery/Eval/Focus/Med with 95+ parry and GM+ resist spells. I think you'll find that if you really want the most powerful mage you just need to drop everything else and build that. My "hybrid" characters are successful hunters but my most powerful characters have made a choice in life and stick to it.

Safe Travels,

Sam