Mage Armor Question

[Papadom]

I'm an old player reciently returning to UO and the new armor has me asking tons of questions.

I'm trying to buy a nice suit of armor for my mage.

I currently have three pieces
Royal Leggings of Embers
Heart of the Lion
Ancient Samurai Helm

This gives me
45
45
20
40
35

I'm guessing that this means I need to find gloves, arms and a gorget all with stats of:
9
9
17
10
12
The numbers listed above will give me 70 in all categories. Is this assumption correct? Is it possible to find pieces with the stats noted above? Do I have any other options?

Also is there an easier way to buy armor? I bought the virtue armor set from my dexer. Is there something like that for mages?

Any help or names of armor that would help me out would be greatly appreciated. TY

 

[Arch Magus]

Hi,

What shard do you play?

How much money do you have to spend?

There is a similar suit that just came out during spring cleaning. It's an all 70s mage suit, 100lrc and other minor mods. I know it's expensive also.

Personally, I would go for a part Artifact/part runic crafted suit. It could take a while to build that though, you have to find the right crafted pieces which is an ongoing process (i've been building my mage suit for 4 years.)

Most notable pieces to look for..
-Ornament of the Magician , bracelet
-Rune Beetle Carapace, chest
-Armor of Fortune, chest
-Hat of the Magi , hat
-Fey Leggings, legs- Many use for 20 DCI, defense chance is very important in Pvp, not so in Pvm
-Stitcher's mittens, gloves, elf only
-Pendant of the Magi, neck, No resists, but a great piece to build off of
-Totem of the Void, talisman, Extra 10% LMC
-Scrapper's, spellbook
-Tome of lost Knowledge, spellbook

If you have any questions, i'll be here all night

 

[Arch Magus]

In addition..

Many mages, including myself, use the spell Magic Reflection to permanantly buff your resists and drop your Physical AR.

I don't know how long you've been away but Magic reflect doesn't do what it used to(reflect spells). It now just raises your elemental resists while dropping physical.

Also take into account that the skill Resist Spells gives you base resists across the board ( I currently have all 43's with no armor and 115 Resist Spells). Magic Reflect doesn't drop your resists below these numbers either.

If you build your suit this way, you can run with less resists and focus more on
Low regeant cost,
low mana cost,
mana regeneration and
Defense chance. All while having respectable resists.:bowdown:

With your Defense chance high enough (max is 45), physical AR won't be as much a factor considering you get hit less. You just have to avoid contact damage. Then again, DCI won't do much for you if you don't already have a weapon skill.

 

[Papadom]

I play on Great Lakes and gold is not an object. I just looking a good suit my mage tamer can use while PvM.

 

[GFY]

I play on Great Lakes and gold is not an object. I just looking a good suit my mage tamer can use while PvM.

Here's what I would look for if I was in your situation.

All resist 60 or above - If the curse spell is cast on you it drops all your resist to 60 no matter what they were to start with.

40 LMC - This is most important IMHO. Use less mana = cast more spells!

45 DCI - My mage's suit gets close but I can' quite get there. If I'm duelling a dexxer I swap my Rune Beatle Carapise for a Heart of the Lion, and my leggings for Fey Leggings.

Mana regen and mana increase - I have some of each on all my pieces. I'm able to reach a mana pool of 192 in the right configuration. Add 40 LMC, 120 med, and 12 mana regen, and I can litterally cast almost all day.

I don't have a suit that has 100 LMC. I carry regs because of the other pluses on my suit. I do have acrane boots, cloak and robe. These allow me to cast if I die and get back to my regs.

 

[GFY]

I currently have three pieces
Royal Leggings of Embers
Heart of the Lion
Ancient Samurai Helm

This gives me
45
45
20
40
35

I'm guessing that this means I need to find gloves, arms and a gorget all with stats of:
9
9
17
10
12
The numbers listed above will give me 70 in all categories. Is this assumption correct? Is it possible to find pieces with the stats noted above? Do I have any other options?

Also is there an easier way to buy armor? I bought the virtue armor set from my dexer. Is there something like that for mages?

Any help or names of armor that would help me out would be greatly appreciated. TY

Yes you should be able to find pieces with the above mentioned resists. You'll have to do some mixing and matching but it shouldn't be too hard.

I would consider making a tailor character. These can make you a lot of gold from selling pieces and just from turning in bods. You can keep any armor pieces you like and sell those you don't need.

Pieces I would look for are;

-Rune beetle Carapise - Tokuno major artie chest piece with great mods & fair resists.
-Casa of the Rajin - Tokuno major artie helm with high resist and SDI.
-Totem of the Void - Paragon drop that gives LMC and a chance for another mod
-Ornament of the Magician - 2/3 cast/recovery and some nice mods.
-Tome of Lost Knowledge - Tokuno major artie, my personal favorite spell book
-Scrappers Compendium - Craftable artie spell book that can be made with peerless ingredients. Good base mods and chance for slayers.
-Hat of the Magi - Doom artie with good mods an fair resists.
-Staff of the Magi - Doom artie, -0 mage weapon with nice mods. (I prefer spell books myself)
-Inquisitors Resolution - Doom stealable gloves with 8 lmc, 3 FCR, & 50 total resists that spawn once a month.
-Armor of Fortune - 40 LRC, 15 DCI, 200 luck, and 16 total resist. Great mods horrible resist on a chest piece.

As you mentioned before you'll need to mix in crafted pieces to complete your suit, but there are many different combinations and possibilities.

 

[Papadom]

TY for the info

I have a GM tailor. I'll look into how to make some of the pieces myself.

This game has changed from a skill based game to who has the most GP to buy the best stuff... =)

 

[Arch Magus]

I play on Great Lakes and gold is not an object. I just looking a good suit my mage tamer can use while PvM.

Not a PvP'er. That simplifies matters .

Find high Luck items.
Resists almost don't matter at all.

Armor of Fortune
Jester Hat of Chuckles
Luck Necklace
The new Jewel Set that gives Luck and FC/FCR
Ring of Elements, maybe

Start stacking Luck. That will get you the best drops on the toughest monsters

 

[GFY]

TY for the info

I have a GM tailor. I'll look into how to make some of the pieces myself.

This game has changed from a skill based game to who has the most GP to buy the best stuff... =)

GM tailors ain't what they used to be. Work a bunch of bods and get yourself a 120 tailor scroll. You can also get runic sewing kits to make armor pieces with mods on them.

I usually make about 10 small bods a day and turn them in for new ones. Every time you turn in a completed bod you get a chance for a new one, plus you get so many a day depending on your tailor skill. (Higher the skill fewer bods per day. ) There are a few websites with bod info that tell you what large ones to keep for the reward they give. (Bods are us is one I believe)

 

[Papadom]

OK TY

I'm currently looking into upgrade my char to make good armor.

He is a GM

Alch
Poisoning
Blacksmithy
Tailor
Carpentry

According to uoguide, there are only power scrolls for tailoring and blacksmithing

Is there a website that give you the bonuses and advantages to having 120, 110 in a skill vs GM?

 

[GFY]

Don't forget to add 100 arms lore to the mix. It gives you a bonus when your crafting items.

I don't know the exact differences going from 100 to 120. Luck (not the in game kind) has a lot to do with what you create.

I would get 100 arms lore and buy a tailor scroll you can afford and start working my way up. Fill bods and if you get a kit or 2 (even a spined or horned sewing kit) try making some armor. I usually use barbed to make stuff unless I want a specific resist to make a suit. I have a friend who swears he saw a GM tailor make one of the best gorgets he's ever seen for resists and mods.

Blacksmith and Tailor are the only skills to raise above 120. Unless Stygen Abyss changes that.

I'm not sure what current prices are but 120 tailor and smith scrolls are bod rewards. You should be able to get both fairly reasonably if you want to buy them. If you can't afford 120 by all means get one you can afford. I wouldn't buy much below 110 and I'd try to hold out for a 115 if possible.

 

[Papadom]

nm

I checked uoguide.

It says that GM Arms Lore gives a bonus to Blacksmithy and Tailoring.

TY for the tip.

 

[GFY]

I believe it applies to all crafting. I know it does for smith and tailor.

 

[Sir Kenga]

You can do well with 110 tailoring and good craft talisman.