[Magery] Need suggestions ... new mage

[Spartan]

After years of playing melee characters I decided to respec my "junior" beggar to a mage. As such some skills got stoned and others in being learned. BUT - I need to see where I need to go on suit and mods for a PVM mage.

Stats - Target (real)
STR - 90 (78) - currently 102 HP w/mods
INT - 130 (48) - currently 106 Mana w/mods
DEX - 35 (40)

Skills - target (real)
Eval Int - 100 (43.2) - current Haven quest
Magery - 120 (42.1) - current Haven quest
Meditation - 100 (52.1) **
Resist - 110 (40.1)
Sword - 100 (52.6)
Tactics - 80 (57.3)
Wrestling - 100 (40.4) - current Haven quest

** - with suit mods for Int/Mana I gain .7 Med every time I log in. I like that!

Suit resists
capped at all 70s

uncapped is 97-91-103-100-94

Current mods
STR+ - 8
INT+ - 24
HP+ - 5
Mana+ - 34
Mana regen - 8
LMC - 28
LRC - 34
DI - 25
HCI - 5
SSI - 10

What I know I need is a weapon with spell channeling on it and **some** mod(s) as possible. Not sure what mods to pack on it. I know I need to pick up some SDI, FC, FCR and DCI - just not sure how much.

Sooo, exercise your opinions and lemme know what you think which way I should go. <see Pandoras box with an "open me!" sign> I do have an Imbuer that's reasonably skilled (95.6) and a Blacksmith (115.8).

Thanks!

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Well first things first, your template doesn't make any sense, if you have a Sword in your hands then Wrestling is redundant, if you have no weapon in your hands then Swords/Tactics are redundant. You need to decide what your character is going to have in their hands and specifically if you want melee defense (defense from being physically hit by monsters) or if you're quick enough (as in your reaction times and awareness) to not get hit when trying to cast. On a limb I'd say you definitely need melee defense.

If you want to use Spellbooks (Slayer damage for spells)/Shields in your characters hands, then you need to either:
1) Have Wrestling, 2) have a combined 220 points in Eval and Anatomy

Alternatively you can use Spellbooks and swap (EquipLastWeapon macro) between them and a Mage Weapon that you have equipped the majority of the time. Mage Weapons come with penalties that you need to counter on your equipment. For example a Mage Weapon will likely be Spell Canneling, -1 FC (though ones without this penalty are available and highly suggested) and -15 Mage skill. You then need to have +15 Mage skill on your equipment so counter the penalty.

If you want to use a non-Mage Weapon weapon, then you need to have the correct weapon skill:
For example if you're holding a Spell Channeling Sword you need to have Swordsmanship skill.

The reason for this is to give you defense against physical hits. If you have 120 Wrestling and the monster hitting you has 120 Wrestling there is a 50% chance they will miss, this makes it much harder for them to interrupt your spells, and means you will die a helluva lot less.

Once you have decided what is going to be in your hands you need to consider how you are going to deal damage, heal, cure, and this will help determine the stats you need. If you intend to use the weapon in your hand for dealing damage (not just for melee defense) then you will most likely want to increase your Stamina (not Dex) as it will increase your swing speed. Otherwise you do not need Dex/Stam for your Magery spells.

The damage you deal with Magery spells is based on your Eval skill, so you should look to get that as high as possible.

You also want your Str as high as possible as it is directly related to your HP, I would prioritise this over Int/Mana.

I would strongly suggest ditching the Swords/Tactics idea, and keeping it fairly simple until you know how to play a Mage as making a hybrid is more complex.

The minimum suit you should aim for should be all 70's resists, 100 lrc, 40 lmc, 8 mr, 2 fc, 6 fcr. You then need to about whether you need +magery skill on it to counteract a Mage Weapon or if you went Wrestling. Then SDI and DCI. DCI doesn't work if you don't have the correct melee defense weapon skill for what you are holding in your hands (example holding a Mace with 120 Fencing skill on your template means you have 0 defense against incoming attacks) DCI can be thought of as a multiplier of your basic chance. So if you have 0 melee defense and 45 DCI you still have no defense. If you have 120 melee defense and 45 DCI you have over 50%.

SDI in PvM is uncapped. DCI is capped at 45.

I would also try to get as much Str and HP increase on your suit as possible. If possible have 125 base Str, 25 Str on items, and 25 HP increase on items, this will give you 150 HP and is the maximum you can get without other factors that I won't go into here.

 

[Spartan]

Thanks. You're right ... it is sort of a counter-productive template. Per your suggestion, I'll stone off whatever I have in weapon, tacs and concentrate on the other stuff. Suit currently has 4 STR, 5 HP mods; jewelry has an added 4 STR for 8 STR and 5 HP. I believe my imbuer can bump that a bit. For INT/Mana I have 13 INT, 34 Mana on suit with 11 INT more on jewels so I have wiggle room there.

I'll play around with it and see how it goes. Thanks again ... last mage I played was pre-Tram. Got a lot to (re)learn.

CLARIFICATION: I will most likely pick up some weapon at a later time, but it appears that I need to concentrate on magery and tactics using it before I complicate things.

 

[Zalan]

There are -0 Magery Weapons Staff of Magi (2 Handed), Swords of Prosperity, Time of Legends has a Wild Staff forgot the name.

 

[Spartan]

Progress update ...
Stats - Target (real)
STR - 125 (90) - currently 102 HP w/mods
INT - 100 (71) - currently 146 Mana w/mods
DEX - 30 (40) <== this is set to lower

Skills - target (real)
Eval Int - 100 (64.8)
Magery - 120 (58.1)
Meditation - 100 (87.9)
Resist - 110 (96.0) **
Wrestling - 100 (52.8)

** - I pulled Resist from my Paladin via stone. Lots of expansion room, tho.

Suit resists
capped at all 70s

uncapped is 107-97-135-109-111

Current mods
STR +4
HP +5
INT +31
Mana +44
Mana regen - 10
LMC - 38
LRC - 68
FC - 1
FCR - 2

I decided to simply go Mage all the way and jockey mods around until I hit a good setup. ATM, I want to shift some of the INT/Mana mods to the STR/HP because (if calcs are right) if STR was 125 as recommended I'd only have 119 HP (too low).

I'm working on the FC/FCR and SDI mainly. I located a couple shops with lots of vendors so I have shopping to do. Maybe I can hit paydirt.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

While training raise Focus until you're at the skill cap and then basically drain that back into the skills on the final template, as it gives you more mana for playing/training.

When you get to the skill cap you can easily move stats to where you want them. For example; if you want to raise Str, at skill cap, lock all skills except Arms Lore point it up, make a macro for Use Skill/Wait For Target/Last Target and use Arms Lore on any armour/weapon/shield in your pack Arms Lore will stay at 0 but you will still gain Str. Manipulate the stat locks so that only Str raises. For Int do the same but have Med and Focus pointed up, then just drain your mana, you can make this quicker still by holding something on the mouse that makes you overweight and turning on the spot (as this will redline your Stamina and give you the chance of extra Int gains from Focus which restores Stamina as well as Mana), for Dex you do the same with Music and spam Last Object after playing an instrument.

If you're not at the skill cap it's advisable to buy random skills to get you there, purely for being able to more easily put your stats where you want them. Str is important as it determines your HP. It is worked out as Str divided by 2 plus 50 gives your HP, so only even numbers of Str give you an extra point in HP, this is before HP Increase is factored in.

You can raise Eval very easily once you have 2/6 casting, just stand next to a trash can at a bank and spam Last Spell macro for Create Food, when your backpack is too full hold shift and drag the food to the trash can. This is the fastest spell to cast as it's first circle and you don't have to target anything.

Wrestling can be raised easily either through passive gains while playing, or if you want to actively train it you can use a Summoned Demon, you have to be guilded (which you can make one yourself for 25k) you then need to get it to Guard you and Stop/Stay. If you're going to actively train it you may as well sink all your Int into Dex and put on some Stamina increase pieces so that you can Wrestle at the swing cap. Using the methods mentioned above moving stats can be done easily in very short time.

Eat any powerscrolls you have/need as early as you can get them, as an increased skill cap makes gains faster.

Poisoning, or Inscription would be good options for additional skills. Poisoning aside from allowing you to cast higher levels of Poison/Poison Field will also give you a chance of auto-curing which greatly helps with not getting your spells interrupted. Inscription will increase your spell damage and also gives (I think) 5% Casting Focus at 100 which means you will sometimes ignore a spell interruption and continue casting. Both only go as far as 100, Poisoning and Magery only need to total 200 points, so if you 120 Magery you can do 80 Poisoning.