Serenia Fantasy Mage Comprehensive Guide

Serenia Fantasy Mage Comprehensive Guide by Arkhanno

Hello everyone! My name is Arkhanno and I main Mage. At the point of starting this guide I am a level 46 Mage on S2. A little about my MMO experience: I’ve played a lot of well known MMOs as well as some more unknown ones; most recent being Diablo 3, but I’ve played MMOs from Ragnarok Online to ROSE Online to Phantasy Star Online. I’ve even played relatively unknown games like Aspereta, Illutia, and Wish Realm. Wish Realm has been my favorite MMO ever, but SF is pretty high up there right now! (I’m really sad that WR is dead, though. T_T) Now onto the guide!

THE BASICS

The whole idea behind the Mage is to deal damage from far away and take as little damage as possible. If something gets too close to you the Mage has spells to deal with that, such as Freeze and Transform. For slower monsters the Mage can kite them around without taking damage, but for faster monsters it’s best to move in and out of their range of agro. If the Mage is forced to tank they have spells like Magic Shield and Fire Wall to help mitigate damage and to focus down the monster respectively.

If the Mage has a Warrior to tank the damage they should use Fire Wall on the mob(s) that the Warrior is tanking before they start their chain of spells in order to add DPS to kill the mob(s) quicker.

THE SPELLS

The Mage’s bread and butter are Fire Bolt, Magic Bolt and Thunder. Fire Wall and Freeze are a little more situational, but still nice to have. Now when it comes to Magipoints it’s best to save them for Passive skills. You level up your skills by using them in Serenia Fantasy, which means you’ll naturally get stronger by using Active skills like Fire Bolt and, Freeze, etc. The only way you can level up passive skills is through Magipoints. Stocking them up to max your passive when it’s available is the best idea.

For basic leveling just using Fire Bolt or using Fire Bolt and Magic Bolt is the most cost effective way, MP-wise. You should always use Awaken when it’s up to top off your MP: it’ll save you from using a potion. If you need to level your skills then I’d recommend using them, but take them off your auto-pilot bar when they’re maxed. For focusing down a boss casting Fire Wall, Thunder, Fire Bolt and Magic Bolt when they’re up is the best thing to do. Meteor Drop is useless unless you have first sight of a powerful enemy, like a boss, which isn’t agroed on any of your party members. It’s useful against some enemies in Nightmare Abyss, but only for the initial strike.

Some spell chains that will be useful to you are:

(Fire Wall,) Fire Bolt, Magic Bolt, Fire Bolt, Thunder, Fire Bolt, Magic Bolt, Fire Bolt, Fire Bolt, Fire Wall
This is the Mage’s bread and butter. This spell chain is amazing for group play, solo, and PvP pre-50. It is probably the most effective in terms of cooldown management. If you have a Warrior tanking then you start off with Fire Wall on the monster then continue on the spell chain, otherwise Fire Wall after the mob is on whichever tank you’re using.

Thunder, Fire Bolt, Magic Bolt, Fire Bolt, Fire Wall, Fire Bolt
This next one is for mobs with a lot of life that are slow moving when soloing. If a mob has more than 7k and is pretty far away from you then start off with Thunder if you don’t have the extra 2.5 yard range on Fire Bolt, otherwise start with Fire Bolt.

Magic Bolt, Fire Wall, Fire Bolt, Thunder, Fire Bolt, Magic Bolt, Fire Bolt
I really like this one. It’s meant for soloing when you’re pretty close to a mob already. It gives you a good burst of damage off the bat then stays consistent until Thunder is available again.

NOTE: I’ll update this section with more details as I get more spells. If you would like me to put up spell chains, or suggest spell chains go ahead. If you have any other suggestions on this section go ahead.

MAGIPOINTS AND HOW TO SPEND THEM

In Serenia Fantasy you level up your skills by using them. This means you’ll naturally get stronger by using Active skills like Fire Bolt and, Freeze, etc. The only way you can level up passive skills is through Magipoints. If you don’t have the Magipoints to spend on Passives when you get them then you’re at a disadvantage compared to those that do max them at your level. By saying this I mean it’s generally best to save all your Magipoints for Passive skills. That extra 10% mana or 1% Skill Crit Chance could mean you kill mobs just that little bit quicker than others so you level up faster.

Now this doesn’t mean to not use Magipoints on skills. If your Thunder is at 11000/12000, for example, then using some to give you that last little boost is a good idea, assuming you have enough left over for Passives when you get them. Be smart about it and remember that Passives take priority over Active abilities.

THE TALENTS

One of the first major questions the player is posed with is: “How are you going to build your character?” Are you going to build your Mage to be a glass cannon, or are you going to be a little more of a hybrid? Are you going to go for Talent skills or are you going to go for a different build?

In my opinion there are two paths to take your Mage down. I realize that these aren’t the only two paths, but I feel these are the most effective on paper.

NOTE: I don’t know the cap on Talent Points so I won’t be posting up a full build. I’ll only be doing a portion of it until I know what the cap on Talent Points is.

MP/HP Hybrid (AKA the build Ark uses)

20 Staff Expertise
20 Heart of Nature
1 Bless
10 Sacred Mind
10 Enh. Magic Bolt
20 Cultivation
9 Arcane Boost
10 Life Sap
1 Mage Armour
1 Transform
18 Mage Armour
120 Talent Points total

This is the general idea on the build that I’m planning on using. The idea around this build is to give the user some extra damage then get the MP you need to sustain yourself for later levels. You are squishy until you get Cultivation, but if you know how to position yourself, as well as how to kite, you shouldn’t be at risk dying, unless the monster you’re fighting is a lot faster than you. The reason I’m using this build is because it promotes Solo

From here on, since I’m not that great at creating builds, I’ll just link the ones that Grazier posted.

TACTICS & POSITIONING

Tactics and positioning is everything in battle. If you don’t have a good position you could be caught off guard. Likewise, if you don’t use the proper tactics against certain mobs you will get destroyed. I’ll be talking about positioning in three different areas: PvE, 1v1 PvP and group PvP, but first some tactics.

Kiting

Kiting is when you attack a monster while moving around in order to prevent the user from taking damage. This has been used by ranged classes in MMOs for years. One of my favorite forms of kiting in Serenia Fantasy is agroing a lot of really weak mobs (~1000 HP or less) then throwing down a Fire Wall while kiting around in a circle. This is probably the most effective way to take out trash mobs early on in the Nightmare Abyss.

Freeze and Transform

Freeze and Transform are amazing spells for one reason: they give you a slight breather to heal up when you need to. Down to 20% HP? Freeze and heal up.

[Potentially more specific tactics for bosses/Nightmare Abyss to come. For now positioning]

PvE

In PvE there are two ways a Mage can position himself: in the back behind a tank or in the front near monsters. Depending on whether or not you have a group you may not have a choice in the matter, so this section is only going to talk about group play.

When doing an Instance, boss hunting, etc. the Mage always wants to let the Warrior move in first. The Mage should lag a little behind the Warrior, but still stay close enough to throw down Fire Wall when the battle starts. If the group is a Ranger/Mage duo then the Mage should be up front taking the hits while throwing down Fire Wall and communicating to the Ranger when you’re going to Freeze so you can heal up.

1v1 PvP/Arena

The cross-server arena is usually where you’ll be doing 1v1 PvP, but this isn’t limited to just the arena. This part will be split into two sections: melee and ranged opponents. I will be wording this as if it was the arena, but the ideas still apply outside of the arena.

Melee
When the match starts throw down a Fire Wall at your feet. This will deter the Warrior from immediately Air Slashing you for a potential stun and to keep constant damage on the Warrior. Start with the Bread and Butter spell chain and lay Fire Wall at your feet whenever it’s off cooldown. If you have Transform/Freeze and need to heal up, walk out of the Fire Wall and Freeze them.

Ranged
This is a little more interesting because it isn’t just drop Fire Wall at your feet then use your bread and butter. When fighting Ranged vs Ranged it becomes a battle of who can interrupt the opponent better. For example: a Mage vs Mage fight is determined by who can use Fire Wall and Freeze more effectively whereas a Mage vs Ranger is all about catching the Ranger off guard with Fire Wall to interrupt their bread and butter.

Group PvP

The Mage has an interesting role in Group PvP. They are a main DPS class as well as a Buff/potential Healer class. The same general idea is the same: stay in the back, Fire Wall your enemies, don’t over commit to an attack. But there are some key differences in group PvP.

Freeze/Transform is one of these differences. Using it offensively, to stop a threat that deals damage; or defensively, to prevent a player from capturing a point (in Battlefield). Another difference is that positioning is more dynamic. What could be the back in a battle could turn into the front from a flank. Always keep an eye out for flankers and remember to use your surroundings to your advantage. A tactical retreat that forces your enemy to stop attacking by moving behind a building/obstacle could be the difference of your team winning or losing the current fight.

Closing

I hope you enjoyed the guide. I don’t really see a lot of Mages out there, which makes me a little sad because I think they are the most powerful class right now. Even though I haven’t started a Ranger or Warrior yet, from what I’ve seen the classes are relatively well balanced, with Warriors being a very close second to Mages.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about Mages you can PM me in game. If you have any constructive criticism for the guild go ahead and post a reply or PM me. I’ll be updating this guide as time goes on and I get more experienced. <3