Battle of the Immortals Magus Beginner’s Guide

Battle of the Immortals Magus Beginner’s Guide by grinsinthedark

I.  Introduction.
II. Builds.
a.       Pure INT build.
b.       INT/SPR build.
c.       DEX Build—no!
III. Magus Skills.
IV. Investments.
a.       Mounts.
b.       Pets.
c.       Gear.

I. Introduction.

First, to quote the definition of a Magus that is mentioned in the game:

“Magus; master of elements of fire and ice. High intelligence allows the magus to pursue greater knowledge of the elements, allowing them to control the battlefield and cause great damage to large groups of enemies. However, magi know better than anyone their vulnerability to physical attacks.”

So, based on the definition, we already know that the Magus specializes in INT. In fact, intelligence will always increase whether you decide to implement potential into INT or not. When you first choose to create a character on BOI, you will have the opportunity to read that definition about the magus, and you can see the starting statistics for a level one mage:

Vit 2
Spr 5
Str 2
Int 9
Dex 2

Notice that the only two attributes that seem higher than the others are Spr and Int (Int especially). Intelligence is what the Magus specializes in, but it is also possible to implement potential into Spirit. “Potential” are the points you will use to manually customize the performance of your character in the five fields: Vitality (HP), Spirit (MP), Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity.

Before you begin to read about the builds, I will mention the pros and cons about playing a Magus. Understand that these pros and cons are based on my observation as I had the opportunity to play a Magus into the sixities (level-wise) in the Closed Beta.

Pros:

The Magus is one of the top three damage-dealing classes in the entire game. Personally, I believe that the Magus is number one when it comes to damage, especially with the critical strike behind their attacks. The Magus’s range is another plus about playing a Magus. You can throw your spells at a safe distance, and even run to increase the distance between you and your assailant.
※High damage
※Range

Cons:

There are several cons when it comes to playing a Magus, but don’t let that discourage you. I enjoyed playing the Magus class despite all these cons, and I give tips in this guide on how to survive as a magus with the proper investments.
Con 1. Physical Defense = Terrible. The Magus barely has any defense and so is pretty much what every player on Perfect World metaphorically calls a “glass canon.” The magus is a very fragile character that takes extreme amounts of damage. You will find yourself inhaling potions pretty much, so it may be wise to invest in the Alchemy class for Tech. That way you can make your own potions. Because not all players have Zen, this may also be a handy investment when it comes to opening shop and making an in-game profit.

Con 2. Frequent Gear Repair. Because the magus often takes a lot of damage, you may find yourself spending your gold on gear repair. It won’t be frequent because it depends on how many times you get mobbed by monsters, player-killed, and to summarize, how many times you die in general. You may find yourself dying often when it comes to instances (dungeons) and their powerful bosses. I would never attempt to do an instance without a Heretic in the party. The Magus and the Heretic will both be in the back throwing their blows and taking care of each other when both are being mobbed.

Con 3. Barely HP & MP. The Magus’s HP and MP barely increase, so you won’t have a lot of health or magic at all. You will find yourself relying entirely on your magic potions.

Con 4. Skills have slow cool down and drain mass MP. Your skills are powerful but they drink your MP like crazy the higher you raise their level. If you don’t have a lot of MP, you’ll find yourself hitting 0 MP frequently.

Con 5. Poor Accuracy in the long-run. In the long-run, the Magus’s accuracy is horrible. Your character will miss almost more times than it hits, which if that ever happens it means, time to get new gear, upgrade the gear, or wait until you advance in your level. A pet will make a good back-up to deal with this problem.

Now, with the pros and cons explained, if you’re still willing to continue to read this guide, you will read about some builds I experimented with, and you will also see some tips on how to have an awesome and fun Magus in BOI.

II. Builds.

a.       Pure INT Build.

The pure intelligence build is great when it comes to clobbering monsters and players that are eight levels higher than you. Your critical strikes will be very high and frequent, and with the proper gear, you may not have to use your spells as much because your normal and fastest attack will handle everything for you.

For the Closed Beta, I used the pure intelligence build until level 63. I removed all my character’s gear so you can see that pure statistics and results of a pure intelligence build. Here is a visual:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/HlySd/PUREINTBuild.jpg

All potential points go straight into INT. The downside to a pure INT build is no different than the general downside to playing a magus. You barely have a defense, your HP and MP are inadequate, and your accuracy and evasion rely on the quality of your gear. This build is recommended if you’re into PVP. I will explain how this build can be excellent further down in the guide in the investments section.

b.      INT/SPR Build.

The intelligence and spirit build can be done in two ways: 1) you put 2 potential points into SPR, and then 2 potential points into INT, and repeat. This may not be good if you’re not good at remembering if you put 2 points in INT already or 2 points in SPR. If you don’t keep track of this, then I guarantee you’ll just forget. 2) Putting 1 potential point into INT and 1 potential point into SPR. This is probably the best way of handling an INT and SPR build because it’s not tedious to keep track of. 3) There can be other variances of this build, but I don’t recommend any other than what I suggest. My reasons for this are that you may end up wasting potential points. The Magus specializes in INT and if you put more points into SPR, then you won’t have an upper hand on the monsters or players you will encounter in the game. The plain and simple con to this build is you sacrifice magic damage to have better MP, but I recommend it if you’re in this game to have fun, do dungeons with friends, and all the non-aggressive acts. You will stand a chance in Guild War just fine.

Here is an example of a level 30 INT/SPR build. I did the 2 for 2 build:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/HlySd/INTSPRBuild.jpg

c.       DEX Build – Never do this build.

There were many questions in-game and out-of-game about this build, and I went ahead and bothered to do it. I do not recommend this build because dexterity for a Magus isn’t increased naturally. It is barely increased at all. Here is an example to prove this fact. As we all know (and if you don’t know, you’ll eventually learn), a player does not acquire potential points until level 21. So, here is the Magus statistics at level 20 with no gear improvements. My character was wearing no gear when I wrote down these statistics:

Vit 12
Spr 31
Str 6
Int 64
Dex 10
(Will get a level 20 Magus screenshot in a moment)

You can easily do the math, which isn’t really necessary. It can easily be seen that dexterity and strength barely increase and are not the smart way to go for a Magus. Now, I continued to make a pure Dex until level 30 because I wanted to have time to write this guide before Open Beta starts. Here is what I got:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/HlySd/DexBuild.jpg

I do not recommend the DEX build or any INT/DEX or anything that involves DEX at all. Dexterity only benefits the Slayers for that is what they specialize in. Your accuracy and evasion will have to come from your gear. If you have good gear, then you won’t have to worry about dexterity at all.

These are all the builds I recommend. Any other build may take away from your Magus’s magic damage and make the class unbearable to play. Again, these builds were suggested and I am not forcing you to go along with them. I respect the players that choose to do their own thing because they want to be different than everybody else, but this game doesn’t allow for much customization in power or looks.

III. Skills.

Level One: Fireball lvl. 1, Inferno lvl. 4, and Ice Arrow lvl. 1.
Pace leveling all these skills. I don’t recommend raising these skills until you got 60-100k gold in your pocket or until your MP is at least 5-6,000+. I recommend you max these skills in the long run, but wait until you acquire Evocation at level 40.

Level Ten: Cold Logic lvl. 1.
Raise this at your leisure. Don’t make it your number one priority to max, but max it eventually. It’s a passive skill and because the Magus specializes in ice spells, this comes in handy.

Level Twenty-Five: Bolt lvl 1., Insight lvl 1., Flamelick lvl 1.
Same advice for the level one skills. Max Bolt in the long run. Now Flamelick, will be your best AOE (Area of Effect) skill, meaning it allows you to hit multiple opponents. It will be your best AOE skill until level 70 when you get better AOE skills. As I said about the level one skills, pace this, but eventually max Bolt and Flamelick. As for Insight, that is the only buff skill the Magus has. It raises the Magic Attack of your character and others for 10 minutes. Max this in the long run as well.

Level Forty: Telekinesis lvl. 1, Ice Shield lvl. 1, and Evocation lvl. 1.
Telekinesis and Ice Shield in my opinion are useless. Ice Shield won’t protect you from damage since the Magus is a damage magnet. You can’t hide behind it, and it won’t be a decent sanctuary for it only lasts for 30 seconds. So, just think about it, after 30 secs you’ll be dead if you’re being bombarded. On the other hand, 30 secs may give you the necessary time to click the “save your butt” button. In such cases, it might be useful, go ahead and max this if you want. I leave it entirely up to you. Telekinesis, this skill is absolutely useless and pointless. Don’t spend any money on it. Don’t even think about it. I want them to delete it. Unless it was a teleport you out of a gang-bang skill, then that would be nice. Otherwise, this skill just moves you probably one inch across the screen and that’s it. In the end, no matter how far it moves you, you still won’t escape the player or the boss trying to chase you down and kill you. Evocation needs to be your primary magic investment. MP is such a problem for the Magus as you level up your skills. Evocation will fix this. Invest in Evocation but do it carefully because it will get extremely expensive EXP and gold wise. But max this as soon as you can.

Level Fifty-Five: Freeze lvl 1. and Frostburst lvl 1.
Don’t make the AOE skills Freeze and Frostburst, a MUST investment. Freeze comes in handy when you want to freeze an enemy or boss either long enough to run away or to keep them from wailing on your party members. It is also very effective when in the event “Defending Energy Well.” The downside to Freeze is that the cool down is 120 secs. As you improve this skill the seconds do lower and the amount of players you can freeze may increase from 4 to 8 (would like more information on this skill from those who play Chinese BOI). Frostburst is the fastest AOE a magus has. When I got to level 55 and acquired this skill, I immediately thought it was lame but when I leveled further, it showed some potential. Your Magus’s magic attack will make this skill better as it increases. I recommend you max this skill as long as the cool down speed doesn’t exceed 3 secs. If it ever rises to 4 or 5 secs at a certain level, stop. Do not upgrade it to 4 or 5 sec cool down. This AOE is unique for being quick.

Level Seventy: Falling Star lvl 1., Eruption lvl 1. and Inspiration lvl. 1.

Falling Star and Eruption will probably be your best AOE skills for the rest of your Magus life. These skills and Flamelick will be excellent. Max them in the long-run. If you got the money and the MP to do it. They’ll come in handy in Ancient Ruins and Guild Wars. Inspiration is another passive skill the Magus has to increase the Magus’s already amazing damage. Max this.

Level Eighty-Five: Brain Freeze lvl 1. And Illusion lvl. 1.

Brain Freeze max this skill. It is awesome. Illusion, funny, yet not so awesome unless as you upgrade the skill, the amount of seconds a character will be rendered immobile and ridiculous will increase. I believe a Magus with maxed illusion will be a pain in PVP for every second counts.

To conclude this section, your ability to upgrade these skills will rely on money and your Magus’s total MP. These skills are expensive, so I recommend starting a business to help fund yourself. Sell things, hunt, forage, and craft to get the money for these skills because based on Closed Beta, the quests don’t give enough money. Also, with your Magus’s damage repairs, the Magus is quite an expensive class.

IV. Investments.

So, earlier I mentioned all the good and especially the bad about the Magus class. Here are the investments I recommend. Unfortunately, the Magus in my opinion is the most expensive class in the game because of the amount of damage the Magus takes and its dire need for potions. If you have Zen, I recommend investing in Advanced Tears of Valkyrie and Advanced Tears of Venus. You can find them in the Marketplace for 500 zen. Very expensive, but they are perfect for when you need instant recovery when taking damage in instances or from players trying to kill you.

For a Pure INT Magus, ATVs will be your best weapon besides your magic power alone. The ability for a Magus to stay alive during PVP is what will make it a truly formidable class to reckon with. These potions will keep you alive, but don’t rely on them too much. The proper gear is what matters in the end.

a.       Mounts.

The Darkcharger mount you get in-game after doing the Knight’s Jail quest (or buying the Mount Token off another character), is fine and dandy (not really). It gives you 35% speed and increases your intellect by 4%. The more you fortify this mount using Common Gems you can get as rewards from quests in game or from the Marketplace, the more intelligence it increases. This mount isn’t as great as (so far known), the Royal Rabbit and the Flying Elephant mounts. They increase your speed by 70% (once leveled to 4 star) and add an HP buff of 3,000 to your character’s current HP, which lasts for 5min after dismount. The Flying Elephant specifically also grants the character 5% Lucky Strike, which is like a Critical Strike except you don’t need a critical percentage at all in order to get a Lucky Strike. Invest in any mount that gives your character a large buff on HP. The more HP a Magus has, the deadlier the Magus is.

b.      Pets.

I recommend listening to the Growth Aid book, which you will discover in game. The Growth Aid menu tells you what pets it recommends you catch. The reason why I recommend listening to this rather than going around and randomly catching monsters is because often times the pets it recommends have a high growth rate. The higher the growth rate, the better the pet will be. If your pet has growth and quality, even better. The Zodiac pets are also an excellent choice. If you rebirth a zodiac pet to increase its quality, even better. I recommend the Magus invest in pets that deal in INT since majority of the players in the game are all about Physical Defense and Physical Attack. Berserker, Champion, and Slayer are all affected greatly by magic damage, especially magic damage coming from a Magus. The Heretic, on the other hand, is another story and probably the only bane to a Magus’s PVP record. All in all, what determines a player’s success is the quality of gear.

c.       Gear.

Any Soul Gear will dramatically increase the performance of a character, especially when acquired as a set. A player who is eight levels below you can have a soul gear set and destroy everyone above you. They don’t even have to be good at PVP or strategy. If they hit you, a chunk of your health will be gone (unless you have soul gear yourself). Soul Gear is very rare and hard to acquire. I wouldn’t recommend fortifying any other armor you may acquire unless you convinced yourself that there is no way you’ll ever get soul gear. If you ever acquire the soul gear for another class, I recommend trading the soul gear for the soul gear of your class rather than selling it. If you’re character is pure broke, then sell it. If your character is okay with money, then trade it for the soul gear of your class that way you benefit and lose nothing. Selling the soul gear may get you some serious cash, but you still lose because in the end, you have no soul gear.

When improving your gear, try and invest in gear that has HP Regen, MP Regen, Magic Attack +, Fire Attack+, Ice Attack+, Evasion, Accuracy, Max HP, and Max MP. Crits, Lucky Strikes, and Physical and Magic Defense gear are a plus, but those previously listed should be your priority. Now, the best attributes any gear can have are the ones that directly affect your characters attributes: Vitality+, Spirit +, Dexterity+, etc. Those are the best.

Disclaimer: This is the Magus Guide I wrote for Battle of the Immortals. I do not own Battle of the Immortals or any of its copyrighted property.  I am simply a player of this game who volunteered to write a guide for the Magus class in this game, and this is the guide.
I hope players find it helpful. I only accept helpful and mature criticisms. If you wish to add further tips on this guide, send me a PM with the section or two-cents you wish to add, and I’ll put it on there with your name included. Together, we Magus players can make the ultimate guide and lessen the amount of threads that are all over the place. What I hope to achieve with this guide, is to have ONE guide in ONE place where everyone can easily access without having forty or one-hundred guides swimming in the back of the forums somewhere. You may agree or disagree with all I have offered in this guide, but the fact is, it was my opinion and based on MY experience playing a Magus. I won’t argue with you. If you disagree, then that is your opinion. I will be doing more research on this guide as my Magus continues to play. Even more when Open Beta begins. Thank you for reading.