Old Mage needs new advice

[jayar]

Hello everyone. I'm back after several years absence and there's ALOT that has changed. I used to be able to go into a dungeon and rock it, now even the most basic one seems to be a little tough. I know nothing about these new skills, or gems, or special moves, or new mage armor/weapons etc etc.

My old template is as follows:
100 Med
100 Magery
99.5 Resist
97.8 Inscription
100 Eval Intel
100 Anatomy
59 Spirit Speak
30 Focus

I want to keep inscription, but what should i drop and what should I gain for a PvM setup? Also any advice on armor/eq should I look for?

Also what are base resistances for human mages? Naked I have 31's all the way down. I believe I'm bugged though as when I put on eq, I get no bonus's to my resistance until the 4th or more piece.

 

[renojiin]

While I cant explain all you are looking for, as I am having template issues myself, I can explain whats happening with your resistances. The 31 resist comes from your resist spells as a base resist, so it is not a human bonus. The resistances you see will be the highest out of the resist spells bonus, or your currently equipped armor, so the effects do not stack, so in order to go above 31 resist, you have to equip at least 32 points of resist in an area.

Humans get a bonus called Jack of All Trades (JOAT), which allows you to use a skill as if you have 20 skill points in it. Humans can also carry more than elves. Elves get an extra 20 mana, constant nightsight, and a bonus to tracking.

As for armor, you should probably focus on gathering a 100% Lower Reagent Cost (LRC) suit so that you do not need to carry reagents. Make sure that it is all medable armor (either leather or has "mage armor" on it). Other good bonuses would probably be mana regeneration(mr), mana increase, lower mana cost(lmc) and in some cases spell damage increase (sdi). There are many other mods depending on your playstyle, but those are probably the most common mage mods. Also, spell books are now equipable, and can have mods on them, such has lrc, lmc, sdi, +to mage skills (resist, eval, med, magery), mr, and even slayer spell books, which do double damage to the specific monsters when equipped. (these books can be crafted by scribes, but the results are dependant on the makers magery skill).

EDIT: I'm a dork, I forgot to mention jewelry; I would recommend trying to get 2 faster casting and at least 4 fast cast recovery, but try for 6 if you can.

I would recommend using a powerscroll on your magery so that the higher circle spells can be cast more reliably, as energy vortices are fairly effective, or you can do earth elementals for protection, etc.

My current setup is:

120 magery
110 eval
110 med
100 scribe
100 resist
100 wrestle

and I have some left over points that I'm not quite sure what to do with, so I may scroll up the other skills. A lot of people today tend to like spellweaving or necromancy on their mage template, but I am not very experienced with that so you may have to ask someone else about that.

Hmm, this is longer than I thought it would be, sorry if it's too basic or too detailed, but hopefully it is somewhat helpful.

 

[Odin of Europa]

Hi jayar, welcome back

Mage armor is found on non medable armor (metal and studded) if they have it on, you will be able to med whilst wearing that armor.

Mage weapon makes your magery skill act as a weapon skill, e.g. if you have 120 magery skill and equip a katana with mage weapon -21 skill, your magery skill will go down to 99 and it will act as though you have 99 swordsmanship skill. You can counteract the loss of the magery skill using jewelry with +magery skill on it. So if you also equip a ring and bracelet with 21 or more magery skill on them, you will be back to 120 magery, which while you have the katana equiped, will also act as 120 swordsmanship.
Or you could use the artifact, Staff of the Magi, which has magery weapon -0 skill. This way you would lose none of your magery skill and not need any magery skill on jewelry. In this case though, your magery skill would be acting as 120 macing skill, as the Staff of the Magi is a macing weapon. This makes it easier for you to hit others, and harder for others to hit you.

Theres also another mod you can find on weapons, and shields, thats useful for a mage, Spell Channeling (SC). If this is on a weapon, you can cast spells without them dropping into your backpack.

As for mage templates, I use the following:
Eval 110
Inscription / resist 100
Magery 120
Med 100
Necro 99
Spellweaving 120
Spirit Speak 80

I swap out inscription for resist, or vise versa, using soulstones.
I use it for Doom guantlet, peerless and champ spawns with groups mostly, but I've also used it for solo hunts in the old tram dungeons. I was able to go right to the end of Deciet on my own, to the lich lords .. using an undead slayer spellbook though which makes it alot easier.

You will need Mondain's Legacy for the Spellweaving skill.

Before putting Spellweaving on, I had this, which I used for Doom guantlet and peerless.
Eval 110
Inscription / resist 100
Magery 120
Med 100
Necro 99
Poisoning 80
Spirit Speak 120

For more on templates, I suggest you look at the stickies, some good info there

For equipment I would look at getting 100 Lower Reagent Cost (LRC), 40 Lower Mana Cost (LMC) and atleast 50 in all resists, 60 would be better, and 70 would be brilliant
Some other good mods to try and get on your suit would be, Mana Regen (MR), Mana Increase (MI), Spell Damage Increase (SDI) and Defense Chance Increase (DCI) - I don't think DCI is really needed in PvM, but its handy. I'm not sure about PvP as I don't do it, but I would think it'd be highly recommended to have it.

Some good artifacts to look for would be:
Arcane Shield
Armor of Fortune - tunic
Bloodwood Spirit - talisman
Boomstick
Brightsight Lenses
Hat of the Magi
Inquisitor's Resolution - gloves
Ornament of the Magician - bracelet
Pendant of the Magi
Scrapper's Compendium - spellbook
Shield Of Invulnerability
Staff of the Magi
Staff Of Power
Stitcher's Mittens
Totem Of The Void - talisman

I've only listed the ones that I've seen mainly used by PvM mages, but there are more .. especially when thinking of PvP. For a better list, look here, here, here, here, and here.

Hope this helps