Adventure Quest Mage Guide

Adventure Quest Mage Guide by Rasudido

What is a mage?
A mage in AQ is a character who uses spells as one of their two main sources of damage. Mages generally have incredibly high damage within the first turns of battle and do lower damage with weapons as a result of the higher damage output given by spells. Sometimes the damage from spells itself is enough to end the battle sooner than other builds

Mage characters are great at dealing with “Glass Cannon” monsters (high damage but low HP/Endurance monsters) but have slightly more trouble dealing with “Tank” monsters (lower damage but High endurance monsters). With proper equipment, are also the fastest at farming.

If you this is what you want your character to do then I suggest you keep reading and make a mage, otherwise you can look at the other guides to pick a build that better suits you.

What this guide will do for you and what it won’t:
This guide is meant to give you a general sense of what to do to build a mage character; it will give you advice on the best equipment on each category and a small look at strategies and build for this type of gameplay. While the suggestions given within the guide will probably be enough as for you to play the game without problems it won’t give you specific advice on all the questions that can (and will) show up while playing.

If you want specific advice I suggest you look into the Questions and Answers part of the forum or look at the Equipment Comparison , between the two it’s likely the advice you seek can be found. Other good places to look for advice are the other guides within this forum.

It is expected that at one point you make decisions on your own and build what character you feel comfortable with as things in this guide are guidelines of the best general strategies, but that doesn’t mean other choices not contained in the guide aren’t valid

this post by Ward_Point explains pretty well how to use the advice within this guide

INDEX

*to quick find press ctrl+ F on your keyboard and type the code beside the section you want*

BUILD SECTION [001]
-Pure Mage [0011]
-Annihilator Mage [0012]
-Beastmaster Mage [0013]
-Tank Mage [0014]
-Power Mage [0015]

GUARDIANS: WHAT SHOULD MY NO DROP ELEMENT BE?[002A]

MASTERCRAFTS: WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY THEY MATTER[002B]

WEAPON SECTION [003]
-Weapons: No Drops [[0031]
-Weapons: Fire [0032]
-Weapons: Water [0033]
-Weapons: Wind [0034]
-Weapons: Ice [0035]
-Weapons: Earth [0036]
-Weapons: Energy [0037]
-Weapons: Light [0038]
-Weapons: Darkness [0039]
-Unique Weapon: Sila’s Staff [003A]
-Guardians: Custom Weapons [003B]

SPELL SECTION [004]
– Important Spell Info: New Spells vs Old Spells [0041]
-Spells: Fire [0042]
-Spells: Water [0043]
-Spells: Wind [0044]
-Spells: Ice [0045]
-Spells: Earth [0046]
-Spells: Energy [0047]
-Spells: Light [0048]
-Spells: Darkness [0049]
-Healing Spells [004A]
– Summon Spells [004B]

ARMOR SECTION [005]
-Armors: General Tips [0051]
-Armors: No Drops [0052]
-Armors: Class Armors [0053]
-Armors: Low Level Suggested Set-ups [0054]
-Armors: High Level Armor Selection [0055]
–Fire [0055A]
–Water [0055B]
–Wind [0055C]
–Ice [0055D]
–Earth [0055E]
–Energy [0055F]
–Light [0055G]
–Darkness [0055H]

SHIELD SECTION [006]

PET SECTION [007]

MISC SECTION [008]

Stats when making a mage:

Intelligence (INT): The base stat to any mage build and the stat that will always be maxed to 200 in a mage. It is involved with everything a mage does from spell and weapon damage to base mana you get.
Dexterity (DEX): A stat related to Ranged weapons, dodging, and Hit (BTH). This is one of the main secondary stats for a mage and multiple builds will max this stat. This stat is crucial if you want your mage to use ranged weapons as an alternative to magic weapons.
Luck (LUK): the other common secondary stat; it’s more offensive than DEX and it influences Initiative rolls (who begins the battle), Lucky Strikes, dodging and BTH (less so than DEX) and is involved in all status rolls. A very flexible stat and just like DEX is maxed in multiple mage builds.
Charisma (CHA): a stat only used in “Beastmaster” builds. It is involved with pet and guest damage, BTH and in some cases attack rate. This will be maxed in the specific beastmaster builds and otherwise best left untrained.
Endurance (END): this stat serves one purpose- Granting higher HP. Most builds will have a small investment here and will usually dump all spare points into this.
Strength (STR): a stat not usually related to mages, it affects melee and ranged weapon damage as well as melee weapon BTH. No mage builds involve STR and only one of them invests a small amount in it. If you want to use melee weapons as well as spells I suggest you look at the Ultimate Hybrid Guide

If you want a more detailed look at stats, how they work and the importance of each to the builds, please look at Kaelin’s Build Workshop

For those that like formulas, here are the most relevant formulas to mages in the game:
Stat Damage Bonus (per 100% stat bonus)
Magic Weapon: INT*3/32 + LUK/20
Magic Skill: INT*3/16 + LUK/20
Spells: INT/4 + LUK/20
Pets & Guests: CHA/15

Stat Bonus to Hit 
Magic Weapon/Skill: [INT/16 + DEX/16 + LUK/20]
Spells: [INT/16 + DEX/16 + LUK/20]
Pets & Guests: [CHA*7/60]

Blocking Bonus from Stats 
[DEX/10 + LUK/20]
I recommend checking out Kaelin’s previously mentioned guide to understand how blocking is handled and how the number calculated from this formula works.

Hit Points and Mana Points 
Player HP: [5*Level + 0.05*Level*END + END + 100]
Player MP: [5*Level + 0.05*Level*INT + INT + 100]

Builds Section
[001]

A build is the base of what your character is, it determines everything for you from the amount of damage you do to how much HP and block will you have. Often new players have the greatest problems choosing a build and this haunts them later since fixing a bad build is expensive and a priority. Below are a set of suggested build types and stat progression in each, while you can vary from those values it’s not suggested to do so much since likely the build isn’t optimal.

Pure Mage

[0011]

The standard mage fully invested at casting spells and magic weapons and nothing more, easily the mage build that will gives you the best spell and magic weapon damage possible. Based on maxed INT, DEX, and LUK with END as its final stat, this build has the best spell and magic weapon damage, best block rate and decent HP.
If you decide to go Pure Mage getting 200 INT is among the first things you want to do. DEX or LUK are the other stats that you want to raise to 200, although one can raise both of them at the same time as maxing a stat can be quite expensive at lower levels. You should always try to train LUK before DEX though since it will be a better stat, so consider this.
Guardians have a choice on their final stats: 150 END or 50 END+ 100 CHA. The CHA based build is slightly stronger since more than 50 END is usually unnecessary but if you do not like pets or prefer the extra HP get END.

Lv 025 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 075 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 050
Lv 050 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 150 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 100
Lv 075 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 175
Lv 100 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 100 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200
Lv 125 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 025 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200
Guardians:
Lv 150 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 50** | CHA ~ 100** | LUK ~ 200
**or 150 END and 0 CHA
Adventurers:
Lv 135 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 075 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200

Annihilator Mage

[0012]

Virtually the same as a pure mage with one key difference: This build uses no END. In sacrificing the investment in END it gains maximum offense quicker and for its last points it can invest in either CHA or STR for increased damage in certain areas (pets and guests or ranged weapons).
Adventurers have to put the extra stats into STR as 75 (and use ranged weapons to take advantage of the extra stats) as CHA will be generally ineffective at 75. If you do not like this then its best you keep a Pure Mage Build.
Guardians get both of both worlds. The most efficient Annihilator Mage build is a split of 100 CHA and 50 STR making both your pets/guests and ranged weaponry slightly stronger. If you don’t like using pet or pure ranged weaponry then put all 150 stats into a single one.
Lv 025 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 050 | INT ~ 075 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 000
Lv 050 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 125 | INT ~ 125 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 000
Lv 075 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 175 | INT ~ 175 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 000
Lv 100 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 100
Lv 125 | STR ~ *** | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ *** | LUK ~ 200
Guardians:
Lv 150 | STR ~ 50** | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 00 | CHA ~ 100** | LUK ~ 200
**STR or CHA can also be trained to 150 instead of split.
Adventurers:
Lv 135 | STR ~ 075 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 075 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200

Beastmaster Mage

[0013]

A mage build which uses pets and guests to increase damage at the cost of one of the pure mage’s secondary stats (DEX or LUK). The “Lucky Beastmaster” build is the best build of this type, it uses LUK instead of DEX and has the advantage of better spell and weapon damage at the cost of a slightly better block rate when compared to DEX. You can still choose to train DEX instead of LUK but notice that you will be running a less efficient build.
Differences between adventurers and Guardians is just the amount of END you get.
Beastmaster Mage:
Lv 025 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 075 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 050
Lv 050 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 150 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 100
Lv 075 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 175
Lv 100 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 100 | LUK ~ 200
Lv 125 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 025 | CHA ~ 200 | LUK ~ 200
Guardians:
Lv 150 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 150 | CHA ~ 200 | LUK ~ 200
Adventurers:
Lv 135 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 075 | CHA ~ 200 | LUK ~ 200

Power Mage

[0015]

Somewhat of a cross between a Pure Mage and Annihilator Mage that uses STR, the purpose of the Power Mage is to use STR to boost ranged weapon damage but unlike the Annihilator Mage it still invests in END for survival purposes. It starts almost identically to the Pure Mage and for a long time will act identical to one until the very end adding the extra STR and using ranged weapons instead of magic is what sets them apart. The stat point spread between STR and END can be different from the one suggested below, always keep as much END as you feel comfortable with so you don’t die often.

Lv 025 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 075 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 050
Lv 050 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 150 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 100
Lv 075 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 000 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 175
Lv 100 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 100 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 000 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200
Lv 125 | STR ~ 000 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 025 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 20
Guardians:
Lv 150 | STR ~ 100 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 50 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200
Adventurers:
Lv 135 | STR ~ 040 | DEX ~ 200 | INT ~ 200 | END ~ 035 | CHA ~ 000 | LUK ~ 200

Guardians: <What should my no drop element be?>

[002]

Before going into details and suggestions for each item type, I will talk about a question that will inevitably show up for guardians. Picking a No Drop element alignment will affect your Armor, Shield and Weapon (Awe weapons only) basically giving you a set of items in the chosen element that are good enough so that you don’t have to purchase items for that element again.

No Drop items start in “Neutral” or “No Alignment”, this means that the armor and shield will have a flat resistance (not bad but not great at any element), the weapon on the other hand will deal Earth damage as default (Blade of Awe). This setup isn’t bad and can serve you well until ~level 75; even more it doesn’t really become completely outdated until level 90 when flat resistances armors are no longer good. The reason for this is that at level 90 monsters start dealing far more damage and little by little you will be forced from that to focus your elemental resistances making flat resistances worthless defensively. It is strongly suggested however for you to pick an element as soon as possible since you will save a lot of gold by doing so at lower levels (cost to switch elements grows with each level) even if no alignment can work in the first levels.

When you do decide to align to a specific element though what should you choose? Well there are very different opinions on this but the best advice any one can give you is a simple one: Always pick an element where you are missing a good armor (or would like a better armor) and if your armor choices are all OK then use your no drops in the element you need a better weapon. Why this advice? Well simple, armors are the most important (and most expensive) item you can cover with the no drops and its good strategic advice to
focus on this. Also currently weapon and shield choices are mostly varied in each element while there is still a huge problem in non rare, non token armors basically forcing you to depend on your no drops for a good choice. Other information to note is that resistances follow “wheel resistances”, that is they have a main element and 2 “allied” or “closely related” elements which will be covered decently; for example Fire alignment will also give you some resistance to Earth and Energy (Fire’s closely related elements).

Taking the above into consideration the current best element to get your no drop aligned to is WIND . The reasons for this are simple: Wind has the weakest armor selection . Stiltwalker Series is the best and only non-token wind armor, and while not bad its still the weakest armor in the current mage armor selection. Mystic Rx Axe is certainly a strong weapon but not the Staff of Awe is just as good and if you have Deren Estate you can use the much stronger Deren Conqueror Hammers.; finally the only decent shield is the generic 130 shield in Adler’s Forge. In short aligning to wind is close to the complete package.

If don’t mind the weaker wind equipment (or have reasons not to go wind), the choice is far more complex but WATER and EARTH alignment are both popular choices. Water alignment has the advantages of giving a better shield and weapon than Bacler and Sea Scourge, the problem with this choice is not only is this not a strict upgrade since there are ways to cover the weaker weapon and Bacler isnt that bad in the first place. Earth alignment on the other hand solves the lack of variety in Magic earth weapons (Summertide is the only choice), the obvious disadvantage being that earth armors and shield choices are not bad and you would be using you no drops to cover only a slightly weak weapon (and as such a less important part of your inventory).

As for the remaining elements, it is not recommended you pick any of them unless it’s your personal choice to do so. The other elements have incredibly good armor, weapon and shield choices and as such you will solve nothing by aligning into them leaving more vulnerable elements open. As with anything choosing, a no drop element isn’t written in stone and can be changed but it will cost you a hefty sum of gold (that goes up each level), as a result it is not advised to continue switching your element often. If you need further help in choosing an element alignment visit the Question and Answers part of the forum for more help on the choice.

Mastercrafts: What are they and why they matter

[002B]

Adventure Quest has a long tradition where every year it releases a new special set of extremely powerful items, these items were once referred to as “ubers” and now are known as Mastercraft Sets. Do notice that Mastercrafts items do not come only from these set and any item can be Mastercraft, set items are just the most common example.

So then what exactly is a Mastercraft? Well Mastercraft is simply an item that has a special bonus when compared to normal items. The bonus can be anything from increased damage, a skill that is slightly stronger than usual, extra BTH, more defenses, etc; the important thing to remember is that a Mastercraft item is stronger. This does come at a cost though since usually these items are more expensive and harder to get than normal items tend to be.

Why are these items a problem? Well out of all Mastercraft items, mastercraft armors are likely the one item that you will likely want to get. Armors being universal to all builds are a huge lure and will draw a lot of people to buy them quickly, even when they don’t need it. This is the big problem for players since a lot of people waste a lot of gold and time rushing towards Mastercraft items when they shouldn’t, usually at the cost of sacrificing other areas of character development that they should focus on instead. Examples of this show up mostly at lower levels where people get lower tier set items (usually armors) when the other items they could get or already have are better, wasting gold that could be used to train stats or save for when it is suggested to get those items.

Another common mistake is to ignore normal items in favor of Mastercrafts when the Mastercraft item isn’t nearly good for your build or as strong than a non mastercraft item.
A clear example of this mistake would be the recent revamp of the Twilight set: Twilight’s Mantle, a pure darkness armor (with some light defense) that can be classified as strictly inferior to Shadow of Doubt G (a non Mastercraft Armor with Darkness/Light focus) yet people rushed to buy it. Twlight’s Dread, a ranged darkness weapon of that same set, has been bought by many a mage when Falerin’s Divine Decahedron or Darkness Draconic Blade are guaranteed better buys save for certain builds.

In the end it’s simply important to understand that Mastercraft items are great, but they aren’t absolutely necessary. Most (if not all) mastercrafts don’t go rare so waiting a bit to get them will not hurt you in any way unlike taking rushed decisions can.

Weapon Section
[003]

This section of the guide will go through MAGIC weapons in each element for both Adventurers and Guardian characters. Only permanent weapons (non-rare or seasonal rare) and non token weapons will be taken into consideration below, so please check the Equipment Comparison Guides or QA section of the forums to find how specific weapons will do for you.

Ranged weapons WILL NOT be listed in this guide. For ranged weapons (both 100% special or not) please check the Ultimate Ranger Guide as its the perfect resource for ranged weapon progression. Only exceptions would be cases where the ranged weapon is so strong a magic weapon is not an option. The guide will never list purely optional or take special considerations for certain builds unless necessary.

Importance of weapons for a mage:
While you might feel weapons are unnecessary, especially at lower levels where spells can deal with monsters easier, weapons play an important role to any mage build. Should you ever find yourself out of mana you will have to use weapons to win the battle, also keeping an up to date weapon selection is important when a particularly tough monsters shows up where you would rather spend your mana healing than casting spells, meaning all your offence will come from your weapons.

This guide divides levels into Low Level (0-50), Mid Level (51-89), High level (90-120), and Top Level (121+); at the two lower divisions (Low and Mid Level) a mage can manage to slack off on a perfect weapon inventory thanks to spells, and should you be comfortable doing so there shouldn’t be any trouble. At the two higher tiers it is greatly recommended not to follow that trend and keep a good weapon inventory with you all the time even if it seems unnecessary at times.

Weapons: No Drops

[0031]

Your character comes with one weapon you can’t move from your inventory.

If you are an adventurer this weapon is the Wooden Staff, which is earth element and will have a power level 20 levels under your character (obviously not the best weapon). If you find yourself in need of a better earth weapon your only choice is to sacrifice another element and put that weapon into storage. Alternatively you could try and use other temporary weapons but that requires you to get them every time you log on.

If you are a Guardian character you’ll start off with the Guardian Staff. While this weapon only has a 5 level penalty it constantly changes element rendering it useless quickly. Luckily as a guardian you’ll have access to the Staff of Awe which not only is one of the best weapons in the game but you can also choose its element and not have to worry about getting a weapon in that element again. More help on the Staff of Awe is covered under the section <What should my no drop element be?>

Weapons: Fire

[0032]

Guardian: Molten Staff (lvl 3)–> Scorp Staff (18)–> Guardian Demon Tooth Axe (40)–> Fire Blood Blade (50)–> Lord’s Clout (75) –> Prince’s Command (90)–> King’s Authority (105)–> Emperor’s Sovereignty (120)–> Overlord’s Ascendancy (135)–> Supreme Overlord’s Ascendancy (150)

Adventurer: Fire Throwing Knives (5)–> Scorp Staff (18)–> Rocking Zard Guitar (40)–> Fire Blood Blade (50)–> Lord’s Clout (75) –> Prince’s Command (90)–> King’s Authority (105)–> Emperor’s Sovereignty (120)–> Overlord’s Ascendancy (135)

Low Level- Up to level 50
Low level is pretty uneventful having standard upgrades all around. Fire Blood Blade at level 50 is an insanely good weapon with a healing (life drain) special, you have to be a vampire in order to get it but if you don’t like that you can just turn to purchase it and then cure yourself.

Mid-Level- level 51- 89
Only one upgrade for both adventurers and guardians alike: Lord’s Clout, the first in a long line up upgrades of the same weapon.

High level – level 90- 120
Once you hit level 90 both adventurer and guardians will want Prince’s Command and then upgrade to King’s Authority (105), this weapon will serve you until the next tier: Emperor’s Sovereignty (120).

Top Levels – level 121+
Both Adventurers and Guardians will get Overlord’s Ascendancy at level 135. Guardians get a final exclusive upgrade at level 150 in Supreme Overlord’s Ascendancy, their strongest fire magic weapon.

Weapons: Water

[0033]

Guardian: Sea Scourge (10)–> Nautica Blade (30)–> Sea Scourge (60)–> Poise (80)–> Water Draconic Blade Series (94, 114, 134G, 144G)

Adventurer: Sea Scourge (10)–> Nautica Blade (30)–> Sea Scourge (60)–> Poise (80)–> Water Draconic Blade series (94, 114, 134)

Low Level- Up to level 50
The Low levels are pretty much the same for both adventurers and guardians: Sea Scourge and then Nautica Blade. The Nautica Blade requires you to become part of the nautica clan but it matters not if you remove yourself from the clan after.

Mid-Level- level 51-89
Another case where guardians and adventurers follow the same route; Sea Scourge (60) will last you until Pose (80) which last for both until level 84 where Water Draconic Blade
.
High Level- 90-120
It sounds a bit repetitive but again adventurers and guardians should do the same: Water Draconic Blade (114)

Top Level- levels 121+
Both Adventurers and Guardians get another Draconic Blade at 134, the difference is that guardians get the Guardian version. At 144 theres a final upgrade to the Water Draconic Blade.

Special Notes Celestial Mana Staves (130)
The Mana Stave series is an incredibly useful series for mages, they compensate raw damage through a substantial mana heal. While not listed above they are great weapons and you should look into getting them should they be available to you as long as you consider the lower damage you will deal for the extra mana. Of particular use are Splendid Mana Staff (40), Stellar Mana Staff (100) and Celestial Mana Staff (130) all of which are great competition to weapons near their level. Again be warned that the damage you deal with these weapons is substantially lower so you can get the mana heal.

Weapons: Wind

[0034]

Guardians: Mystic RX of Destruction Series (levels 1, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140)—> Guardian Wind Draconic Blade (144G)

Adventurer: Deadly Wind Staff (10)–> Recess Bell (20)–> Wind Draconic Blade (34)–> Protest Sign (50)–> Maurinelle’s Melody–> Wind Draconic Blade series (94, 114, 134)

Low Level- Up to level 50
Adventurers start out by getting Deadly Wind Staff (10) in the early levels to cover wind and quickly upgrading it to Recess Bell (20). Afterwards Wind Draconic Blade is surprisingly important given the amount of drakel one faces. Finally at level 50 adventurers should get Protest Sign.

Guardians instead get Mystic RX for Destruction at level 1, this weapon series is simply the best available at all its different levels and should be upgraded as they are available which at this tier would be level 20 and 40.

Mid-Level- level 51- 89
Adventurers should get their next upgrade at level 86 with Maurinelle’s Melody. Guardians upgrade Mystic RX at levels 60 and 80.

High Level- level 90-120
Adventurers have an optional swap with Wind Draconic Blade (94), the weapon is superficially stronger than Maurinelle’s Melody but the effect from the melody can easily make it beat the blade. The next guaranteed upgrade is the same for adventurers, another Wind Draconic Blade at 114. Guardians upgrade their Magical Axes at level 100 and 120, the 114 Draconic Blade can also be marginally useful if you fight dragons often.

Top Level- level 121+
One final upgrade for adventurers come at 134 in a Wind Draconic Blade.
Guardians get one final upgrade to Mystic Rx at level 140 and soon enough at 144 get the strongest Wind Draconic Blade.

Special Note on Arctic Tempest:
Arctic Tempest series is a dual element weapon for both Ice and Wind. The importance of these weapons truly shines when used with weapons such as Sila’s Staff where you basically need an “extra weapon slot” to carry all elements (more on this later). Arctic Tempest as a wind weapon is incredibly strong as well being the top weapon against non-dragons and only being beaten (obviously) by the Triggered Wind Draconic Blade. Its price tag, although it seems extremely high, is actually not that bad since you are investing in two weapons at the same time.

Weapons: Ice

[0035]

Guardians: Arcane Flamestop Hammer Series (levels 1, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140)–> Guardian Ice Draconic Blade (144G)

Adventurers: Ryuusei’s Cool Staff (12)–> Ice Draconic Blade (34)–> Magic Ice Katana (50)–> Avenger’s Judgment (75)–> Glacial Short Staff (85)–> Scourge’s Conviction (105)–> Ice Draconic Blade (114)–> Castigator’s Retribution (120) (optional)–> Nemesis’ Condemnation (135)

Low Level- up to level 50
Ryussei’s Cool Staff is the best available Ice weapon for low level adventurers, not only is it cheap but its freezing special will give you much needed defense at times. Ice Draconic Blade is the next upgrade followed by magic Ice Katana at level 50, which like the stave will give you freeze again.

Guardians are a different story: They start with Arcane Flamestop Hammer at level 1, and upgrade the same weapon at level 20 and level 40.

Mid Level- levels 51-89
At level 75 comes the first huge upgrade to magic Ice: Avenger’s Judgment, it’s a weapon found in the Nemesis Set Quest and while expensive there is no other weapon anywhere near the power this offers at these levels. At level 85 adventurers should get Glacial Short Staff (85), a spellcasting weapon which not only will give you an ice spell but comes with an incredibly powerful mana regeneration option, those who don’t like spell casting weapons can get Vigilante’s Verdict at level 90 instead.

Guardians follow the same strategy they already are with upgrades to Arcane Flamestop Hammer at level 60 and level 80. They can also optionally get Glacial Short Staff at level 85 should they want a spellcasting weapon.

High Level- levels 90-120
Adventurers should get used to the Nemesis Quest, as upgrades to Ice Magic weapons mostly come from the same quest this is true at level 105 when you go get Scourge’s Conviction. At level 114 you have to get the Ice Draconic Blade which is an excellent weapon with a trigger that will be very useful. At level 120 adventurers can optionally get Castigator’s Retribution, in the adventurer’s case this is the best ice weapon they can get but isn’t as strong as the Ice Draconic Blade when triggered.

Guardians again get Arcane Flamestop Hammer upgrade at level 100 and then one at level 120

Top Level – levels 121+
Adventurers get their last upgrade at 135 in Nemesis’ Condemnation, Guardians also get one more Flamestop Hammer (140) and a final upgrade in Guardian Ice Draconic Blade.

Special Note on Arctic Tempest:
As with wind, Arctic Tempest series rears its head in ice magic weapons again, unlike wind though Arctic tempest and its other versions get serious competition in the form of the Nemesis Weapon variants which debate how useful it can be. Again the importance of this weapon is great if you plan on using Sila’s Staff (please read <Unique Weapon: Sila’s Staff> section on why this is important). Should you have the pressing need to use Sila’s Staff and still want to carry all 8 weapon elements the Arctic Tempest series from level 92 onwards is your only choice.

Weapons: Earth

[0036]

Guardian: Guardian Staff (0)–> Centaurion Guardian Blade (22 –> Summertide (35) –> Robocockatrice Blade (65)–> Summertide (78)–> Summertide G (95)–> Guardian Spirit Hunter Scythe (112)–> Summertide (132)–> Summertide G (150)

Adventurer: Wooden Staff (0)–> –> Summertide (35) –> Robocockatrice Blade (65)–> Summertide (78)–> Robocockatrice Blade (95)–> Seedling Eevolu (108) (optional) –>Summertide (115)–> Summertide (132)

Special Considerations: While a weapon progression is given above it is to note than one of the best possible alignments at low levels for mages is “Neutral” or “Earth”, since your no drop elements follow this the weapon would be earth and as such low level upgrades would be unneeded; for more information go to <What should my no drop element be?>. Adventurers are stuck with a single Earth element No Drop weapon, which isn’t great but still good enough so earth weapons are of no worry.

Low Levels- up to level 50
Your no drops start both Adventurers and Guardians, those who want to get a Earth weapon that isn’t your no drop should go for Witch Blade at level 20, Guardians (and only builds which are training DEX at this point) can go for Centurion Guardian Blade. At level 35 Summertide shows up which is an excellent weapon to have and will last you a while.

Mid Levels- level 51-89
At level 65 the Robocockatrice Blade (65) shows up and it should be immediately picked up since it’s the only good magic earth weapon at this point. Soon at level 78 another Summertide shows and should be picked up to do a better job than the now underperforming level 65 Robocockatrice Blade

High Levels- level 90-120
At level 95 Guardians pick up Summertide G and Adventurers pick up the next Robocockatrice Blade (95). The following upgrades happen at level 108 in Seedling Eevolu (108) which is optional since itll only deal a little more damage than robocockatrice for adventurers if not they should wait until the level 115 Summertide; Guardians can get the 112 Soul Hunter Scythe when it comes along.

Top Levels- Level 121+
Level 132 Summertide is the final magic weapon upgrade for adventurers, guardians get an adtional version of summertide at level 150

Weapons: Energy

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Guardian: Guardian Thoughtspire (15)–> Energy Draconic Blade (34)–> Guardian Energy Draconic Blade (54)–> Seer’s Rod of Talados (75)–> Lightning Rod (85)–> Energy Draconic Blade series (94, 114, 134G, 144G)

Adventurer: World Blade (15)–> Charged Orb (25)–> Energy Draconic Blade (34)–> Thoughtspire (55)–> Seer’s Rod of Talados (75)–> Lightning Rod (85)–> Energy Draconic Blade series (94, 114, 134)

Low Levels- Up to level 50
Energy Start off slow with both adventurers getting their first weapon at level 15: Guardian Thoughtspire for guardians and World Blade for adventurers. Adventurers have to get Charged Orb at 25 to wait for the Energy Draconic Blade (34), Guardians instead get to use their thoughtspire until the blade becomes available.

Mid Levels- Level 51-89
At level 55 adventurers trade in their weapon for Thoughtspire (55) and Guardians will get an upgrade in the form of Guardian Energy Draconic Blade (54). Both these upgrades will last until level 75 when Seer’s Rod of Talados (75). Again this lasts a good 10 levels until Lightning Rod (85) comes along; this is a spellcasting weapon and its real strength comes from the powerful spells it uses.

High levels- Level 90-120
At level 94 Energy Draconic Blade comes for both guardians and adventurers, an upgrade to those comes at 114.

Top Levels- Level 121+
Both Guardians and Adventurers get their level 134 draconic blades, guardians take special care in getting the guardian version. At 144 one final upgrade to the blades comes to guardians.

Weapons: Light

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Guardian: Illuminated Solaris Blade (10)–> Raynar’s Blade (20) (optional)–> Blade of Grand Purification (33)–> Guardian Light Draconic Blade (54)–> Brilliant Solaris Blade (70)–> Raynar’s Ultimate Bade (80)–> Light Draconic Blade Series (94, 114, 134G, 144G)

Adventurer: Illuminated Solaris Blade (10)–> Raynar’s Blade (20) (optional)–> Light Draconic Blade (34)–> Blade of Holy Purification (53)–> Brilliant Solaris Blade (70)–>Raynar’s Ultimate Bade (80)–> Light Draconic Blade Series (94, 114, 134)

Low Level- Up to level 50
It starts the same for both with Illuminated Solaris Blade (10) and a quick optional upgrade comes at level 20 with Raynar’s Blade (20) which is good and better than Illuminated Solaris Blade but certainly can be skipped. At level 34 adventurers get the Light Draconic Blade while Guardians have the superior Blade of Grand Purification at level 33.

Mid Levels- level 51-89
Next upgrade comes at level 54 for guardians with the Guardian Light Draconic Blade, adventurers get their Blade of Holy Purification at level 53; both should get Brilliant Solaris Blade at level 70 to replace the lower level versions that aren’t quite as good at that level. Raynar’s Ultimate Blade shows up at level 80 and is an incredibly good weapon for its price that can last quite a while, a bargain purchase.

High levels- level 90-120
Raynar’s Ultimate Blade is incredibly strong thanks to its HP drain special which is what makes Light Draconic Blade (94) an optional choice, it’s better than Raynar’s but skipping to save some gold is fine. The next upgrade shows up at 114: Light Draconic Blade (114).

Top levels- level 121+
A simple upgrade comes to adventurers wand Guardians: Light Draconic Blade (134), guardians make note that they should get the guardian version. At level 144 Guardians get a final upgrade to the light draconic blades.

Weapons: Darkness

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Guardian: Dark Magic Scythe (1)–> Dismay Eater (20)–> Bonethrill Staff (41)–> Guardian Darkness Draconic Blade (54)–> Skull Club Series (70, 90, 110, 130, 150)

Adventurer: Dark Magic Scythe (1)–> Anxiety Eater (20)–> Darkness Draconic Blade (34)–> Staff of Thorns (50)–> Skull Club Series (70, 90, 110, 130)
Low Levels- Up to level 50
Both Guardians and Adventurers purchase Dark Magic Scythe in the started shop and get their first upgrades from the terror quest at level 20: Dismay Eater (20) for guardians and Anxiety Eater (20) for adventurers. Adventurers have to make a quick upgrade at level 34 to Darkness Draconic Blade while Guardians can hold on a bit longer and get Bonethrill Staff at level 41.

Mid Levels- level 51-89
At level 50 adventurers get Staff of Thorns as a cheap upgrade; Guardians get a better weapon in Guardian Draconic Blade (54) a few levels later. Both have to get Skull Club at level 70, this weapon series is extremely powerful more so if you stick to Necromancer (which is suggested) and particularly strong when used with Poelala.

High Levels- level 90-120
Both adventurers and guardians have upgrades to their skull clubs at level 90 with Rotten Skull Club and 110 with Lumpy Skull Club.

Top Levels- level 121+
Another upgrade to the skull clubs comes at level 130 in the form of the Cracked Skull Club, Guardians get one final upgrade in Calvera Club at level 150.

Unique Weapon: Sila’s Staff

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Guardians are lucky enough to get a very special spellcasting weapon in Sila’s Staff (90) and to a certain degree Naga’s Staff (70), but what makes this weapon so special?
This weapon provides an important boost to ALL SPELLS equal to 6.25% additional damage, which might seem like little but when you are talking about the huge amount of damage from spells this boost is equal to more than a free weapon attack .The only weapon that has a similar boost is Lightning Rod (85) with 5% to all spells and 10% to energy spells only. Sila’s Staff also has a Mana Regeneration option which by today’s standard isn’t that great (Glacial Short Staff has a better regeneration) but the option is very valuable and can be extremely useful in tight situations where you need the mana heal. It also has some multi-element spells but those are underpowered and not useful at all (so you can really ignore them)

You might be asking yourself why I suggest use of Sila’s Staff when this same guide also has Lightning Rod and Glacial Short Staff suggested at a point, the answer is simple: it does at the same time what the other two do separately. Lightning Rod does indeed have a similar boost to all spells and Glacial Short Staff a better mana regeneration option but those are two weapons you have to sacrifice while Sila’s Staff shines in that it has similar boosts at the cost of 1. Why this is important stems from the biggest issue for “spellcasting” weapons, which is that at some point you have to trade them in for actual weapons in those elements. Neither Lightning Rod nor Glacial Short Staff will last you much past level 100 because their other good abilities (the spells they provide) start to become horribly outdated by then or actual weapons start to become a necessity; Sila’s Staff comes at that point to save the day by giving you the two abilities that don’t become outdated: an ok source of Mana Regeneration and General Spell Boost.

So whats the problem with using Sila’s Staff? One thing: you sacrifice a weapon slot. Sila’s Staff might be listed as a Light Weapon in game but its anything but light; and if you want to keep it in active inventory to passively boost your spells you have to take a hit in one of your normal weapon elements. Now, this certainly isn’t the worse thing, a lot of weapon elements can get stored and you won’t even notice, Darkness and Water weapons in particular are good choices to do so: Darkness because of the really small pool of monsters weak to darkness and water not only for the same reason but also with the extra that most water weak monsters also tend to be weak to Ice. Newer monsters getting made also follow a standard where they’ll almost always have a decent secondary weakness you can exploit.

There is one other thing a Guardian Mage player can do to effectively use Sila’s Staff: use the Arctic Tempest Series. As mentioned earlier in the guide the Arctic Tempest series is a dual element wind- Ice group of weapons; purchasing one allows you to use a slot for Sila’s Staff while still carrying a standard weapon of each element, regretfully this is a solution that only applies to Magic Weapon using builds (so no luck to builds like the Power Mage).

The advantage of using “sacrificing a weapon element” option is that while its recommended to get all the weapons (and put one in storage) you could just not purchase the weapon you sacrifice and save the gold; the problem with this solution is that you obviously aren’t optimal in all weapon elements all the time. The Arctic Tempest solution obviously has the advantage of being optimal in all weapons but is also the more expensive approach, also the option is not viable for top level guardian characters.

You could also just not use Sila’s Staff but in my opinion the advantages of the boost is too much of a good thing to miss out on.

Guardians: Custom Weapons

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The Custom Weapon is a guardian only feature where you “build” your own weapon and you get to pick a variety of options including Element, Accuracy or Power Leans, and Special Rate. One of the biggest questions is what do with this weapons as there are a lot of choices you can pick, and although the combinations are large there are quite a few choices that are better than the others.

Here are the best tips when it comes to using the custom weapons.

1. Pick either a no Special gem or one of the two effect gems: No special weapons are the strongest weapons out there currently, if you want specials then either of the two effect gems will be better than a normal one (this applies to mages that like to use RANGED customs almost exclusively)

2. Pick a high BTH lean: It is optimal to get the best BTH lean(+5 BTH); thanks to how monster defense works and how you are bound to face stronger monsters (be they simply higher level or Bosses) BTH will give you the best damage when you need it.

3. Always use a Custom weapon: A custom weapon will always be useful. It is to note that generally a no special, +5 BTH Custom Weapon will be stronger than even some of the best weapons of the same level.

The trick is to ask yourself “What is my weakest weapon?”, once you have that answer you put a custom weapon in that place.

Do note that over time its quite possible that the element of your custom weapon will change because of a rare item or a newer item comes along, so always keep the “weakest weapon” question around.

Spell Section
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For a mage spells are one of their two main sources of damage (the other being weapons), and likely thought of as their main source. If you are making a mage character it’s very likely that using spells, the only other build choice that allows it being hybrids, and their spells will never be as strong as a focused mage.

Spells come in 3 distinct varieties. There are offensive spells which simply deal damage one way or another, by far the most common type of spell and the main spell type a mage uses. Then there’s the Healing spells and as their name implies instead of damage they heal you, currently there isn’t a great variety of heal spells but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important, in fact it is recommended you always have a heal spell in active inventory even if it means sacrificing an offensive spell element. Finally there are summon spells, these spells serve to summon guests to fight with you and do nothing else, Beastmaster builds are the builds that would use these summons but even for a beastmaster mage this isn’t a good choice given the extreme lack of summons spells and the huge amount of ways to boost normal spells

This guide will give you general idea of what the best spell of each element is and suggestions of how and when you should upgrade them. As with other sections the guide will only give the best possible non rare choices and if you want specific comparisons or advice you should look at the Equipment Comparison or Questions and Answers part of the forums.

Important Spell Info: New Spells VS Old Spells

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One important point to discuss before continuing with the spell portion of the guide is why old spells are suggested rather than new spells. To better explain this you have to understand that spell standards (that is the values from which spells are made) have changed over time in the still on going process known as “The Sweep.” For spells this originally meant a universal change to more expensive mana costs and far more damage in a single cast, after a time though a second change was made: spell stat was universally changed from INT/8 to INT/4.

Why is this important to spells? the answer is that while new spells that got made after this change take it into consideration (by having lower stat bonuses), older spells that were made before this change kept their old stat bonuses essentially having twice the stat bonus they should normally receive. In the end what this increased stat bonus means is that the spells are dealing far more damage than other spells of similar (and in many cases much higher level) can. Furthermore even when a spell does manage to beat a older spell in damage, the MP cost of the older spells is low enough to get more casts (and as such more damage) with the same amount mana. In simplest terms it means that a lower level “old spell” is as strong as newer spells of much higher level: for example Fwying Wonder is easily as strong as the level 115 embrace the shadows and as such last for such a large gap of time.

A warning that this is obviously temporary and that it will get fixed, also it applies to up to around level 110 which is when newer spells start to overtake the older spells. Always remember that its up to you to decide which spell to carry but I strongly recommend to understand this interaction when picking your spells at lower levels, and if you ever have doubts remember to support your decision with help of the Equipment Comparison or Questions and Answers part of the forums.

Spells: Fire

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To train INT players will have to have at least 1 spell bought at the low levels, buy Fireball and keep using that as your only spell for training purposes at the lower levels until you start to get other spell alternatives (at around level 40)

Guardians:
Inferno (56)–> Arrows of Virtue (80) or MegaInferno (77)–> SPRSRSBBQ (115)–> H4XBBQ (130)–> Guardian Seeing Red (136)–> Drakonnan’s Fury G (143)–> FTWBBQ (150)

Optional:
Limkrag’s Prana (90): Beastmasterbuilds only, takes the spot of Arrows of Virute or MegaInferno.
Frost Elf Assault (89): token spell and expensive, if you do buy it at level 89 you basically wont have to worry about a fire spell until 130 when H4XBBQ shows up.

Adventurers:
Cosmic Blaze (50)–> Arrows of Virtue (80) or Meteors (78)–> SPRSRSBBQ (115)–> H4XBBQ (130)

Optional: 
Limkrag’s Prana (90): Beastmasterbuilds only, takes the spot of Arrows of Virute or Meteors.
Frost Elf Assault (89): token spell and expensive, if you do buy it at level 89 you basically wont have to worry about a fire spell until 130 when H4XBBQ shows up.

Spells: Water

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Guardians:
Undertow (60)–> Riptide (80) or Goopy Gumn (81)–> Everlasting Guardian Gumn (105)–> Blue Blazes VII (120)–> Blue Blazes VIII(130)–> Guardian Blue Blazes (136)

Adventurers:
Undertow (60)–> Riptide (80) or Goopy Gumn (81)–> Blue Blazes VI (105)–> Blue Blazes VII (120)–> Blue Blazes VIII (130)

Spells: Wind

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Guardians:
Invisible Blast (65)–> Brilhado Feathers (80)–> Vortex (87)–> Green Envy VII (113)–> Green Envy VIII (130)–> Guardian Green Envy (136)

Adventurers:
Invisible Blast (65)–> Brilhado Feathers (80)–> Vortex (87)–> Green Envy VII (113)–> Green Envy VIII (130)

Spells: Ice

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Guardians:
Cool ‘Cupunture (40)–> Algorstorm (65)–> Chilling Jack Frost in the Box (70)–> Ice Nine (90)–> Ice Beast Attack (126)–> Breath of the Ice Lord (149G)

Adventurers:
Cool ‘Cupunture (40)–> Algorstorm (65)–> Chilling Jack Frost in the Box (70)–> Ice Nine (90)–> Ice Beast Attack (126)

**Both Guardians and Adventurers that use Glacial Short Staff can keep using the spells from the staff as their main Ice spell until they sell it (usually at ~ level 100) and get Ice Nine after.

Spells: Earth

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Guardians:
Dinozard Crunch (55)–> Earth Fury (77)–> Dinozard NOMNOMNOM (95)–> Sands of Suffocation (118)–> Carnax Stomp (124)–> Sands of Suffocation G (136) (Optional)–>Carnax Stomp (144)

*Sands of Suffocation G does not deal more damage than Carnax Stomp but the damage reduction effect is extremely strong and as such its strongly recommended to get the Sands.

Adventurers:
Earth Rage (50) –> Dinozard Chomp (75) –> Dinozard NOMNOMNOM (95)–> Sands of Suffocation (118)–> Carnax Stomp (124)

Spells: Energy

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Guardian: 
Shock (56)–> MegaShock (77)–> Galvawk’s Binding (90)*–> Dr. Voltabot’s Lightning (103)**–> Guardian Twig’s Ewectic Boogawoo–> Thunder Stalker Guardian Strike (137)

Adventurer:
Blue Lightning (60)–> Purity Portal (70)–> Galvawk’s Binding (90)*–> Dr. Voltabot’s Lightning (103)**–> Thunder Stalker Strike (122)

*Both Guardians and Adventurers can use Lightning Rod (85) as their energy spell and skip Galvawk’s Binding (90) until they get access to Dr. Voltabot’s Lightning.

** Dr. Voltabot’s Lightning comes from the misc item Power Shard VI: Dr. Boom (103) giving you a free spell slot. If you would like to have a better energy spell Galvawk’s Geas is the better choice but you would have to store another spell element to carry it.

Spells: Light

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Guardians:
Light Blast (40)–> Illuminate (60)–> Illuminate Ultra (80)–> Nightbane’s Apotheosis (85)–> Fwying Wonder (95)–> Skyblade (120)–> Guardian Embrace the Shadows (136)–>Guardian Embrace the Shadows (150)

Optional
Supernova (89): token spell, expensive but if you get it at level 90 you won’t have to switch it until level 136 when embrace the shadows shows up.

Adventurers:
Light Blast (40)–> Illuminate (60)–> Illuminate Ultra (80)–> Nightbane’s Apotheosis (85)–> Fwying Wonder (95)–> Skyblade (120)–> Radiant Rampage (127)

Optional
Supernova (89): token spell, in the case of adventurers this spell is the best light spell they can buy.

Spells: Darkness

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Guardians:
Guardian Mayhem Explosion (59)–> Groglurk Rage (75)–> Mayhem Beam (85)–> Mayhem Burst (96)–> Ghost Blast (126)–> Guardian Embrace the Shadows (136)–>Guardian Embrace the Shadows (150)

Optional
Darksplatter (89): token spell and expensive, if you buy it at level 89 you don’t have to worry about a darkness spell until Guardian Embrace the Shadows is available.

Adventurers:
Big Bag of Bones (50)–> Groglurk Rage (75)–> Mayhem Beam (85)–> Mayhem Burst (96)–> Ghost Blast (126)

Optional
Darksplatter (89): token spell and expensive, if you buy it you have the best darkness spell currently available to adventurers.

Healing Spells

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Heal Scratches (40)–> Heal Wounds (60)–> Heal Deep Wounds (80)–> Heal Extreme Wounds (100)–> Heal Mortal Wounds (120)

Healing spells are very important and it’s ALWAYS recommended to have one in active inventory. Usually this will mean that you have to sacrifice a spell element to be able to carry one, and if you are forced into this Ice or Water spells are the easiest to ignore (since one element covers the other incredibly well). At higher levels one also gets access to items that provide for spells and free up a spell slot, Power Shard VI: Dr Boom is of particular interest here since it gives a great spell for a while. Guardians can also get Guardian Embrace the shadows which acts as both a light and darkness spell allowing you to have all 8 elements and the heal spell.

Summon Spells

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Summon spells are generally reserved for Beastmaster builds, although any build can make use of them. It is suggested that no mage build use summon spells since they get better use from normal spells. The reasons behind this are the following:

1. While it is technically possible for a summon to be better than a normal spell, the results will take a very long time to happen usually more time that what can be actually achieved in a single fight.
2. The variety found of normal spells is also far superior than the summon spell options available meaning that generally summons will have much lower power level than a competing spell (and as such much less useful).
3. Finally, normal spells also have a great variety of boosting options ranging from Sila’s Staff to Power Shard: Dr Boom to Poelala guest to Generalist Robes, this means that on top of the other reasons normal spells are better they can also get boosted to be even greater.

Again if you are a mage, do not use summons as normal spells will be a far better use of your spell slots and mana.

Armor Section
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This section of the guide will give you a general idea of what armors are important and in the end give you a suggested progression to your armors in a way that it best covers all elements. Do notice that not all armors will in the game will be suggested below, and if you want to have a better idea of the advantages (or disadvantages) of a specific armor use the Equipment Comparison section of the forums or Questions and Answers to get better assistance.

Armors: General Tips

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Armors are the items the provide most of your defense and a part of your attack as a mage, this makes them very important and as such you should always have a decent armor selection. A good armor can typically last you around 15-20 levels, although there are exceptions to this rule and there will be cases where the armors can last far more or maybe less than this.

Armors have 3 basic varieties: they can be defensive, standard or offensive and they can also be between two types (such as a mid-offensive armor). Defensive armor is, as its name implies, armor that focuses on defense and as such its attack is low; Standard armor is armor that doesn’t focus on defense or offense and the middle ground of armor types; finally Offensive armor focuses on great attack at the costs of lower defenses. ALL BUILDS IDEALLY WANT A FULLY OFFENSIVE ARMOR UNLESS THE DEFENSIVE ARMOR GREATLY MAKES UP FOR THE LOSS IN DAMAGE (example: Mighty Armor of Awe); this statement may change in the future and will be noted on the guide when it happens but until then offensive is the way to go

One important thing to remember about armors is one thing: Your aim is having an armor to cover each of the 8 different elements at all times. While this might seem hard, and more so at the lower levels where gold is scarce and armors are expensive there still is no excuse not to have great armor inventory as there are ways to save up gold and still cover your back.

One of such ways is to understand that not all elements are equal in the game. What does this mean? Simple, while you want to have armor in each element you prioritize which elements are more important. For example there is a great amount of undead, vampires, demons and other monsters who hit with darkness, making having darkness armor crucial and one of the first purchases you have to make; this is in direct contrast to the importance of light armors that aren’t as important since the frequency of light monsters is very low and as such a focused light armor is not as important in comparison.

Another tip to save gold and having a great armor section is to properly learn when you need to upgrade. As mentioned earlier you should be switching a single armor every 15-20 levels (you get more levels at lower levels), one of the easiest ways to waste money is to not pay attention and jump into purchasing new armors too quickly when your older armors could last you far more. This is a particular problem when a new Mastercraft armor shows up but this is explained in its own section.

Armors: No Drops

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Like with weapons your character comes equipped with a no-drop armor which you can’t move out of your active inventory. Below ill cover the no- drop armor choices and give a few suggestions as to which choices to make (for guardians); if you want suggestions on what element to attune your no-drops to go to the <What should my no drop element be?>

Adventurers have the unfortunate luck of not having much choice to their no drops; mage characters come with only a single option

– Cloth Robes:
they come with a natural 25% chance to heal mana for every spell cast which is certainly nice and a “Full Set Bonus” where if you have all your no drops equipped your spells get additional +6 BTH and your magic weapon attacks will deal 7% more damage. Biggest issue with this armor is that it will always have a general resistance to elements meaning that at the higher levels it won’t be good at defending against anything.

Guardians are a different world for no drop armors, they have a variety of choices and get to choose between general alignment or focusing on a single element; simply put the no drop armor will be one of the most invaluable tools at your disposal. Below is a list of the different choices you get.

– Guardian Robes
The basic no drop armor a guardian mage character comes equipped with has a 20% chance to heal mana on each spell cast and a 10% chance to increase spell damage by 35%. As an additional bonus if you equip it will all your Guardian equipment the full set bonus will give an additional +6 BTH to spells and 7% to player attacks (+8 BTH and 10% to attacks if you align to a single element)
While the Robes make for an excellent starter armor you want to upgrade to Ultra Guardian or Armor of Awe as soon as you can so don’t get too attached to them.

– Insightful Ultra Guardian
An offensive lean armor, this is one of the two No- Drop armors you want to end up with as a Guardian. While “Insightful” isn’t the only variety of Ultra Guardian there is, it is the only useful one to mages as it has a 20% mana regeneration chance (62% of the damage done) and a 20% chance of boosting spells by 25% damage. Annihilator Builds and Power Mage builds in particular want this armor since they can take better advantage of its more offensive nature.

– Armor of Awe
The other no drop armor that you want to have in your character; Armor of Awe has a defensive nature when compared to Ultra Guardian and also has more choices as to which one pick since all 3 choices can be of use to different builds. Generally speaking as a mage you’ll get better use out of Armor of Awe than Ultra Guardian.

Insightful Armor of Awe might seem like the obvious choice since it has the clearest boost to mage builds: a built in 10% chance for a spell to deal 90% more damage. It also has passive mana regeneration, but this regeneration is so small it barely will be of any use. While you might think this is the logical choice it’s actually not that useful when compared to the other 2 since you will be using other armors for their spell boosting abilities not armor of awe. If anything a Beastmaster build might be able to make use of the small mana regeneration to help maintain a MP Guest but this isn’t exactly a great selling point.

Mighty Armor of Awe and Deft Armor of Awe are similar to each other in what their effect does: heal HP. Of the two Deft Armor of Awe heals more HP, but only does so if you dodged the last hit of the monster attack; Mighty Armor of Awe heals less HP but does so every turn. Both armors are generally a better choice than Insightful Armor of Awe, you should choose Deft Armor of Awe if you have a high DEX/LUK build (Pure Mage) and Mighty Armor of Awe otherwise (or if you prefer a stable regeneration as a Pure Mage as well)

Armors: Class Armors

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Class armors are extremely useful armors that carry a variety of abilities; usually these abilities lead to the armors being useful far more than their suggested level range. Below there is a look at the most used class armors for mages and what they can do for you, if a class isn’t listed it means it isn’t optimal for a mage but don’t be afraid to experiment and train the all classes, doing so is extremely useful even if you don’t use the class armor itself as the later class tiers ask for fully trained bottom classes as pre requisites.

Tier 1 Classes (level 10-30)

– Mage Class
The basic class to all mages and the first class you want to train completely, get this armor and train it fully the first chance you get. The abilities are extremely useful for any mage and the armor itself will last you well into level 40. The “Metamagic” abilities the armor has are incredibly good and among the better tricks a mage has to deal huge damage quickly; finally the level 1 skill “Elemental Sphere” can save you a ton of gold since it’s basically a spell whose element you choose freely.

– Scholar Class
With only 1 real useful ability (Zard Prism) scholar won’t last you as long as Mage but its still a good purchase for the early levels. As with any class you will want to train it fully to level 10 even if you don’t get the armor.

– Rogue Class
Like scholar another early armor than can help with only 1 real useful ability (Summon Black Cat), difference between scholar and this is that Black Cat will outlast Zard Prism in usefulness.

Tier 2 Classes (level 30-70)

– Beastmaster Class
As its name states this class deals with Beastmaster abilities (CHA) based and is likely most useful to Beastmaster Mages. Even so this armor is still useful to non BM builds because of the ability to summon cheap guests that don’t require CHA to be used at all; its a good early choice that will help greatly in the mid levels.

– Dragonslayer Class
Although not technically what you would consider a mage class, dragonslayer will show its uses in the mid levels when you come to a surprisingly high amount of dragons. Extremely useful to have around as well for any mid level character who wishes to participate in a dragon war (very common in AQ) or go around slaying dragons for profit.

 Shadow SlayerNighthunter Class
amazing classes that give huge bonuses to very common enemy types at the lower levels. They also are unrivaled in both darkness and earth defense and depending on your choice can be offensive or defensive powerhouses. As a mage build you will generally want Night Hunter Class, this is because its far more defensive and as a mage you will take better advantage of this defense bonus than the offensive bonus found in Shadow Slayer.

– Wizard Class
Now this is where it’s at for mages, Wizard has a total of 9 armors: 1 generalist robe and 8 specialist robes.
Wizard is quite literally an advanced Mage class, having become highly specialized in casting spells. The armors all have a passive boost to spells which will make them deal huge amounts of damage, passive mana regeneration on casts and incredibly useful abilities that include extremely powerful spells and mana heal. The only problem with these robes is that they aren’t exactly defensive and at higher levels you will take quite a bit of damage compared to normal armors.
At one point a mage will seem to have his whole inventory made up of these robes (and quite literally at around level 60 you indeed will), but there is one of the 9 robes that stands the most useful: Generalist. While the specialist robes each provides a larger boost to individual element spells, generalist does so to all elements and similar to sila’s staff its real power comes from only using up only 1 armor slot for the substantial spell boost it gives. Additionally its spread out elemental nature allows you to cast spells relatively safer than any specialist robes (where to use their power you have to cast spells against monsters that would attack with your weakest element). Generalist easily the class armor that you will get at level around 30 and possibly still have when you cap.

Tier 3 Classes (Level 70-90)

– Necromancer Class
An older class and admittedly not as useful as wizard despite being higher level, the Necromancer class can still be useful to a mage. The two most useful abilities in the armor are Undead Giant and Undead Mutant, both of which can deal a lot of damage for very little mana.

– Paladin Class
Like Necromancer, the Paladin Class has seen its better days but still can be useful in a pinch. The most useful ability is possibly Lay on Hands which is a 100% heal when charged up and Resurrection with its 15% chance to work can save you easily.

– Assassin Class
The tier 3 armor that you will definitely use, this armor is the only tier 3 class that isn’t outdated and as such is incredibly useful at the levels it should be used in. More importantly though is the fact it has amazing water resistance and given the current in game lack of good water armors you will likely be using this as your water armor for quite some time. A must get armor and while hard to train something you will want to get to level 10 as soon as possible.

Armors: Lower Level Suggested Set-Ups

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Below suggestions to armor setups and progressions will be made. Keep in mind that these suggestions while highly optimal can vary quite a lot and a player should experiment keeping in mind that there are many valid setups (especially true with rare armors), the one below just being generally good and cost efficient. This guide will also assume that guardians are following the suggestion to switch to a single element focus by level 90 or earlier, for more information on why this is suggested look at the section of this guide titled <what should my no drop element be?>

Low Levels- up to level 50

Aerodu Armor should be among the first armors you should purchase; it has a strong offense with a great BTH for the level. Mage Robes, the mage class armor is also a must purchase armor early on, buy it and train the class at level 10 inmmediately.

At level 15 Werepyre Form is a great purchase, having excellent earth and darkness defense, and great attack, easily this armor can substitute Aerodu Armor as your main attack armor. Other good class armors to purchase and train at this time are Rogue Armor and Ninja. Those armors should comftrably take you to level 30 where you will spend quite a bit of gold on wizard robes.

At level 30 one the most important upgrades to mages comes by: Wizard Robes. Each robe costs 426 gold and is a great armor that will last you a long time, basically a steal. You should get elemental robes first on elements that you don’t cover with your current selection (which at this point isn’t very impressive), important robes are Pyromancer, and Geomancer Robes. Adventurers can opt to get Necromancer Class and train them to get access to a mana heal ability (since they cant use dharana) and as a darkness armor. Night Hunter armor also shows up at these levels and should easily be your darkness armor of choice. By level 50 your armors should look like this:

Armors (0-50)
No- Drop Armor
Mage Robes
Hydromancer Robes
Geomancer Robes
Aeromancer Robes
Lumineomancer Robes
Pyromancer Robes
Night Hunter

Mid Levels- level 51-89

The Wizard robes will last you for a huge amount of time; they are amazing armors and the crux for the mid level mage success. One thing you will want to do is swap your old Mage Robes for Generalist’s Robe, the reason you hadn’t done so earlier is that you still didn’t have a full spell inventory back then, now with a full inventory generalist is the better armor.

Two armors to get at level 70 are Whispering Raiment the Assasin Class armor and Dracopyre of Night ; Whispering Raiment will take Hydromancer’s Robe spot thanks to its great water , wind and earth defense, Dracopyre goes on Night Hunter’s slot thanks to its great Darkness Defense, but dont switch them until you have a FULLY trained Dracomancer. Both armors have to be trained fully and you should take most of your time doing so.

By level 89 your Armors should look like this:

Armors (level 51-89)
No Drop Armor
Generalist Robes
Dracopyre of Night
Whispering Raiment
Lumineomancer Robe
Aeromancer Robes
Pyromancer Robes
Cryomancer Robes

 

Armors: High Level Armor Selection

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At level 90 the wizard robe setup starts being inneficient, to the point that you simply too much trouble for normal gameplay in the next few levels. At this point it is best to move into a inventory selection that has a focused armor in each element so you can safely attack with the armor once you run out of mana. Below the section will cover the best armors you should use in each element for both guardians and adventurers, all it takes is to pay attention and upgrade each respective armor at the intervals that the series allows.

There are, in many cases, various choices other than the ones listed below. There are also plenty of great seasonal rare, token or rares that can be used instead BUT THEY WILL NOT BE LISTED because not everyone can get them. The list below shows the suggested armors avaialable to all in game but if you want a different opinion or want to know how well another armor would be the Equipment Comparison section of the forums or Questions and Answers will surely help you in your choice.

Fire

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Guardians: Overlord Series (90, 105, 120, 135, 150)

Adventurers: Overlord Series (90, 105, 135)

The Overlord series is the perfect solution for fire protection. Its simply effective, and like many other Mastercraft sets it is at a perfect range of level intervals and has a pretty nifty ability.

Water

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Guardians: Snide Armor Series** (100, 114, 134, 144G)

Adventurers: Snide Armor (100)**—> Desert Conqueror (118)–> Snide Armor(134)**

A shallow selection of water armors leads to Snide Armors being the viable choice in water armor selection. Luckily for mages this is the perfect armor choice and it means they get an additional slot to carry Generalist Robes (Adventurers) or another armor (using Snide opens two slots in armors for guardians).

**Snide Armors are the temporary armor you equip when you initially use the Snide Transformation misc.

Wind

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Guardians: Stiltwalker (105)—> Guardian Stiltwalker (125G)—> Cyclone Wyvern Rider (133G)—> Guardian Stiltwalker (145G)

Adventurers: Stiltwalker (105)—> Cyclone Wyvern Rider (123)—> Stiltwalker (135)

Stiltwalker series and Cyclone Wyvern Rider series are the place to go for wind protection. Both are unimpressive but they get the job done and are the best armors available currently. Adventurers and Guardians both have to switch between the sets at one point or another so be on the lookout for those upgrade points. The selection of Wind armors is one of the main reasons Guardians choose wind as their no drop element (both Ultra Guardian and Awe armors are better than these two.)

Ice

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Guardians: Horo-Show Void Vigilante (88, 108, 128G, 148G)

Adventurers: Nemesis Series (90, 105, 120, 135)

Different selections for guardians and adventurers. Adventurers get Nemesis series at its respective intervals, a dual resist neutral offense darkness/ice armor that will help greatly with the need for extra slots to cover the bad no-drop armor. Guardians get the fully offensive void vigilante set from the 10th anniversary quest, simply the best ice armor choice.

Earth

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Guardians: Morningstar series (90, 105, 120, 135)—> Ep-Pig G (145G)

Adventurers: Morningstar series (90, 105, 120, 135)

Another mastercraft series that will be the one to pick for both guardians and adventurers, Morningstar is a fully offensive earth armor that does little else and sometimes that is all you need. Guardians get Ep-Pig at level 145 since thats the highest level earth armor available right now.

Energy

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Guardians: Taladosian Robes series (90, 105, 135, 150)

Adventurers: Taladosian Robes series (90, 105, 135)

Like Overlord series, Taladosian Robes are your one stop for energy armors for both Adventurers or Guardians.

Light

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Guardians: Shadow of Doubt series (102, 122, 137G, 147G)

Adventurers: Solaris Plate series (90, 110, 130)

Solaris series is a no fuss offensive light armor that should be your choice if you are an Adventurer. Guardians should get Shadow of Doubt series, doing so will open a slot to keep using Generalist Robes and another extra armor, it is also the cheaper approach since you already get Shadow of Doubt as your darkness armor and excellent utility since shadow creatures are fairly common. If you don’t mind losing the Generalist Robes or the additional armor and don’t mind paying the additional costs then you should use the Solaris series instead but it is heavily suggested you don’t ever get rid of Generalist Robes.

Darkness

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Guardians: Shadow of Doubt series (102, 122, 137G, 147G)

Adventurers: Nemesis series (90, 105, 120, 135)

Adventurers already have a darkness armor in Nemesis series which doubles as your ice armor choice. Guardians similarly should use Shadow of Doubt which doubles as your light armor.

Shield Section
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After armors, shields are your second source of defense. While they don’t provide as much defense as armors proper shields should always be at hand as they are an indispensable part of the game. Luckily shields are mostly inexpensive and easy to get, but this also means there is no excuse to have a bad shield selection.

For Adventurers, the No Drop shield won’t be a problem until the higher levels (around level 80), at that point it will be important to find a good dual resist option to compensate and even more dual resists if they want to have an utility shield active. Guardians again have their shield follow their no drop alignment which depending on what you choose will cover an elements completely and only worry if they want utility.

the suggested setups below sometimes suggest the bare minimum so the setup is good; it is advised that if you find yourself with enough spare gold you should use it to upgrade your shields more often than suggested below.

Shields to have by level 75 

Earth: Elven Barrier (60)
Wind: Gust Shield (55)
Fire: Fur of Igneus (73)
Ice: Fur of Igneus (73)
Water: Whitecap Shield (70)
Energy: Spark shield (55)
Light: Holy Paladin Guard (70)
Darkness: Holy Paladin Guard (70) 
Utility Offensive: Ironthorn (75)

A simple shield setup, shield tend to be inexpensive and a good buy, at these levels even a armor that doesn’t have great elemental defense against a certain element can be extremely useful with the proper shield. A Utility shield has already shown themselves at these level: Ironthorn, a shield that will increase the damage you do at the cost of accuracy.

Shields to have by level 90

Earth: Shadowslayer Shield (90)
Wind: Gale Shield (80)
Fire: Prince’s Fable (90)
Ice: Horo-Show Void Vindicator (88)
Water: Hydro Shield (80)
Energy: Zap Shield (80)
Light: Dazzling Solaris Shield (90)
Darkness: Shadowslayer Shield (90)
Utility Offensive: Ironthorn (75)

Not much to say, just simple upgrades. Do note that the only dual element shield suggested is Shadowslayer Shield which means that guardians will Ironthorn while adventurers wouldnt (since they have a useless no drop) unless you pick up another compression shield.

Shields to have by level 110

Earth: Bac-ler (110)
Wind: Tornado Shield (105)
Fire: King’s Epic (105)
Ice: Horo-Show Void Vindicator(108)
Water: Bac-ler (110)
Energy: Prophet’s Taladosian Ward (105)
Light: Radiant Solaris (110)
Darkness: Eventide’s Standard (105)
Utility Offensive: Chieftain’s Ironthorn (100)

By now the upgrades have gotten simple, all you really want is to have a shield for each element with the maximum allowed resistance. At level 100 Chieftain’s Ironthorn shows up, a shield which is far better than the level 75 version it can be useful in more than a couple of fights and is a great tool for some in game farming spots, pick it up even if you do store it you never know when youll need it. Upgrade each shield as necessary as their next versions show up.

Top Level Shield Choices

Guardians:
Earth: Bac-ler (130)–> Bac-ler G (145G)
Wind: Cyclone Shield (130)
Fire: Overlord’s Legend (135)—> Supreme Overlord’s Legend (150)
Ice: Horo-Show Void Vindicator (128G)—> Horo-Show Void Vindicator (148G)
Water: Bac-ler (130)–> Bac-ler G (145G)
Energy: Oracle’s Taladosian Ward (135)—> High Oraacle’s Taladosian Ward (150)
Light: Blazing Solaris (130)
Darkness: Twilight’s Regalia (135)–> Eternal Twilight’s Regalia (150)
Utility Offensive: Chieftain’s Ironthorn (100)

Adventurers:
Earth: Bac-ler (130)
Wind: Cyclone Shield (130)
Fire: Overlord’s Legend (135)
Ice: Horo-Show Void Vindicator (133)
Water: Bac-ler (130)
Energy: Oracle’s Taladosian Ward (135)
Light: Blazing Solaris (130)
Darkness: Twilight’s Regalia (135)
Utility Offensive: Chieftain’s Ironthorn (100)

The top level shield choices are mainly upgrades in each area to focus as much as you can in each element. The level 130 shields found in Adler’s forge are in this respect the best focused shields in game save for a few exceptions like Nemesis Shield or Daylight Savings Time.

Adventurers of course will have to pick another double resist shield if they want to still use any utility shield (Luminous Shield or Chieftain’s Ironthorn) since the use of Bac-ler will only cover their bad no drop.

Shields: Multi-element Shields and Inventory Compression 

Often times while leveling your character you will find yourself with very little active inventory to cover all 8 elements and have space for inventory shields. Adventurers have it even worse by only having 7 shield slots to work with since their no drop shield will be rather useless. To solve these issues one often uses Multi-element shields to cover weak spots and “compress” their inventory.

The first thing to understand about multi-element shields is that they are never quite as good as single element shields. This is of course understandable, since single element shields would have little purpose should multi element shields work the same way they do. Usually a dual element shield is a good 3% behind a what a single element shield can get, it might not seem like much but at higher levels that “small” 3% can mean around 22% more damage recieved. For this reason its good to take your time and analyze exactly what Multi-element shield you will use and what exactly you will sacrifice for it. The notable exception to this rule is Daylight Savings Shield and Bac-ler series thanks to their switchable resists.

As a general rule you will want to avoid sacrificing far better shields than you have to. For example Twilight’s Mantle (135) covers both darkness at -25 and has an incredibly powerful Mastercraft effect, Overlord’s Legend (135) does almost the same and as such picking Demon Breaker (138) instead of those shields isnt a good choice. This is a huge contrast to Sublime Tower Shield which would only take the spot of Cyclone Shield (130) and Sprite Lightning Shield (130), both shields which are good but lack any additional bonuses and as such elements prime to get compressed. Again Daylight Savings breaks this since it has -25 to light and darkness and as such the only notable losses are the MC bonuses but no defense.

One thing multiple element shields will do better than single element focused shield is protect against enemies that hit with multiple element attacks. As a result another thing to take into consideration is the frequency you might see multi-element monsters on those elements. Good examples of this policy are Golden Shield/Luminous Shield thanks to shadow monsters and Shadowslayer’s Shield thanks to vampires/werewolves/dracopyres/werepyres.

All of this being said here is a small list of the best multi-element shields available and what they cover, adventurers should look at lower level versions of the shields listed below if they cant get them:

Light/Darkness: Daylight Savings Time or Guardian Luminous Shield 
Wind/Earth: Guardian Shield of Sands 
Dark/Earth: Shadowslayer’s Shield 
Light/Earth: Sackelberry Safeguard 
Wind/Energy: Sublime Tower Shield 
Water/Ice: Spell Barricade 
Ice/Fire: Fur of Igneus 
Earth/Water: Bac-ler

Shields: Ironthorn and Chieftain’s Ironthorn

Unique shields that have horrible defenses but get a great effect that boosts weapon damage done while they are equipped; the ironthorn shield series is often not thought as a mage friendly choice. While this stands true considering mages don’t depend on (or at least shouldn’t depend on) weapon attacks, the increased damage can be rather useful on more than one occasion, the earth defense on the shields isn’t great but not bad either so it can be used as a earth shield in a pinch.

Pet Section
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Pets are a small help to most builds and an essential part to others (beastmaster builds), the one thing to remember is that pets are always useful in some way or another to all builds. As per the new update to pets training difficulty (CHA affecting pet attack rate) is a thing of the past, and slowly beastmaster builds will have similar pet builds to other builds alike.

There are 3 pets which thanks to their ability to heal are often better choices than attacking pets for both Beastmaster and non Beastmaster builds. This is due to an issue with pet BTH and pet power that makes them less powerful than standards dictate but the healing pets get around this by never dealing with the monster. Those 3 pets are: Retro Twilly, Nightmaregon and Fairy Godmother. Twilly only regenerates HP, Nightmaregon doubles as your darkness pet (he attacks anyways) and heals SP (even if the attack misses), Fairy Godmother can heal MP and HP and on top of that has the option to attack. Non Beastmaster builds have little reason to get any other pet but others are still listed for completion purposes (there is absolutely no way damage pets can ourperform healing pets), beastmaster builds have more of a reason but can still get away with being more effective by healing (for example using FGM to heal MP to cast spells > pet attack damage at 200 CHA anyways).

If you get any pets make sure you get at least 2 of the healing pets (Nightmaregon + Retro Twilly or Fairy Godmother), or if you want to save up (by not buying many pets) get all 3.

Non- Beastmaster Pets
Fire: Overlord pet series
Ice: Jr. Archmage Series
Water: Sea Squirt Series
Energy: Sacragon Pet series
Earth: Flogg (15)–> MogZard (60)–> Mogzard (85)–> Disgusting Eye Spy (105)–> Mogzard G (110)–> Hideous Eye Spy (135) or Mogzard G (136)–> Gaia Vampragon (145G)
Wind: Gong of the Wind! (65) –> Quog Series 
Light: Communicant’s Oath Series
Darkness: Nightmaregon Series

Healing: Retro Twilly Series(HP), Fairy Godmother series (MP), Nightmaregon Series (SP) 

Beastmaster Pets
Fire: Overlord pet series
Ice: Nerfkitten (10)–> Nerfkitten (50)–> Nerfkitten (90)
Water: Sea Squirt Series
Energy: Sacragon Pet series
Earth: Flogg (15)–> MogZard Series]–> Gaia Vampragon (145G)
Wind: Quog Series
Light: Communicant’s Oath Series
Darkness: Nightmaregon Series

Healing: Retro Twilly Series(HP), Fairy Godmother series (MP), Nightmaregon Series (SP) 

Mage Guest Tip: Poelala

often a question shows up of what guest, if any, should you use as a mage. If you are a guardian then the answer is simple: always pick Poelala. The guest has no upkeep cost and the effect will amplify both magic weapon damage and spell damage which is a huge gain in the long run; considering all it takes is a small detour every log in this is among the best effects you can get. Adventurers can also get this guest but only through the summon Poelala spell which is not worth sacrificing a spell slot to keep active.

Misc. Item Section
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Miscellaneous Items are often the difference between victory and defeat. Very varied in effects you can adapt your misc. inventory to whatever most suits you, below there will be a listing of the best misc items for mage builds but do notice the selection is much larger and you should look at the MISC ITEM PEDIA LIST to fully cover all available options to you.

– Rejuvenating Necklace: Simply amazing. This misc item will net you do much mana regen that it will give you quite a boost in offensive capabilities as a mage. Remember that the regen applies to all damage including spells, but attacks will generate better returns.

– Staff Master Emblem: This misc will improve the damage of all STAFF weapons quite heftily. The advantage of using this misc comes from its low upkeep and large effect, the issue is the restriction to only staves. While not universal it is to note that some of the top weapons you get are already staves (Zombie Bane, Summertide, Talados Rod, Custom Staff, Staff of Awe) but it is to note that Rejuvenating Necklace is usually a better idea.

– Pendant of the ‘Galin: Another amazing item, it includes a hefty END boost and a hefty CHA boost, both which help greatly for survival (specially when paired with Retro Twilly). The greatest bonus it has is the hefty BTH bonus it gives and the random resistance to an element which can be extremely helpful if you get lucky.

– Power Shard VI: Dr. Boom: An all around great item for mages. The large increment to INT means more damage and BTH in spells and magic weapons, all for a very sustainable SP cost per turn. Additionally it gives you access to the Dr. Voltabot’s Lightning spell when you click on it, the highest version of it will be a a fine lightning spell for a while as well. Always keep this at hand as a mage.

– Snide Transformation: a misc that is used in a strange way- its really your water armor. The misc itself can be unequipped or switched once you have the armor it gives (and you should since you benefit more from other miscs), but if you decide to keep it it at least has a small bonus to the damage you deal in the armor.

– Amulet of Drakonnan: Expensive upkeep makes this item barely worth it. In reality all you are going to use this item for is to regenerate some MP, since you can get MUCH better fire resist miscs or INT boost items (for a much lower SP cost).

– Legendary Shadow Crystal V1: An amazing item with very powerful properties, 3 of which are helpful to mages all around (Naga, Minotaur, Hydra) with one of those 3 being a superpowered version of the best misc item or mages. Definitely worth it unless you dont want to mess with the gimmicky way it works.

– Evil Eyeglasses: A light resistance item giving a huge boost of -10 light defense (the maximum any misc can provide to a single element), its “cold” effect can also be useful depending on your alignment but you mainly want it as for the great light defense.

– Head of Raydius Dragon (G): A misc item that provides TWO -10 bonuses (to earth and darkness) as well as a +10 boost to ranged defense. You have to pay a few tokens to do the quest but they are well worth it since the cost is nowhere near the price the other prime treasures have.

– Urn of Prevailing Winds: a wind resistance item and the best in that category, the DEX bonus can also be useful to many builds.

– Helm of DrakonnanDrakonnas (G): fire and energy resistance miscs respectively they also provide bonus to magic defense, definitely something worth getting for those who cant purchase the prime treasures.

– Urn of Daryngod: a misc that provides -10 defense to fire and energy and +10 to magic defense. Like Head of Raydius Dragon simply one of the best resistance miscs to have, the difference is that it is token only and comes at a hefty cost of tokens (even if its worth it)

– Everfrozen Shard: the second prime treasure and partner to the Urn of Daryngod, this misc provides -10 to ice and water resistance and +10 to melee defense. Again simply one of the best items the main issue being its price.

– Scrumptious Bora’jee: a misc item whose power comes from the healing spell it provides for SP; if you buy the portal to Trescol for 1500 tokens (and you have a house to use the painting) then you can acquire this item, then if you wish you can sell the portal and only loose 150 tokens in the process.

– Pearapplos Basket: this misc provides +15 cha and +9 BTH to all pets. This bonus is especially strong to any beastmaster build but can also help any build with the huge BTH bonus to pets.

– Power Shard: Invincible Hogg: providing STR and END this item generally isn’t thought of as useful for a mage but it surprisingly does. For one the END bonus increases your HP immediately giving you a hefty boost that can make the battle for you, additionally this END bonus helps healing spells heal a bit extra which does come in handy. The STR boost is mostly lost, that is unless you are using Ranged weapons that will get a nice boost in damage from this misc.

– Scope: A misc item series that boost the damage and BTH of any ranged weapon, simply a must have item to anyone using ranged weapons.

– Crystal Of Restless Shadows: A misc that lowers your damage (to 80%) but heals you, it an be very useful in many cases and you should have it on call if you dont have other misc options for healing

Recommended Misc Set-Ups: 
The following are two set-ups for Guardians and Adventurers for their misc items. Each section has taken the best possible items while giving a varied assortment of effects including resistance, healing and damage boosting. Do remember that misc item setups can be very varied and yours can differ greatly from the ones suggested.

Guardians:

Rejuvenating Necklace
Pendant of the ‘Galin
Snide Transformation OR Amulet of Drakonnan
Power Shard VI: Dr. Boom
Urn of Prevailing Winds
Head of Raydius Dragon
Helm of Drakonnas
Helm of Drakonnan

Adventurers 

Rejuvenating Necklace
Snide Transformation Formula
Pendant of the ‘Galin
Power Shard: Dr. Boom
Crystal of Restless Shadows
Evil Eyeglasses
[Resistance Item]
[Resistance Item]

End Notes 

With the last section the Guide has come to an end, I hope you find this guide useful in making a mage character and have fun playing. As always anything said above is merely a guideline and under no reason should anyone stop themselves from testing different items, play styles or ideas, remember that making the game your own is half the fun.

As new items show up this guide will be updated with them, do be patient with new releases since the guide will be updated as soon as it’s within my time to do so. To keep post at a minimum please try not to post “when will THIS ITEM be added into the guide” or “how about adding this recently released item”, likely they will be added when you least expect them. At most I will try to guarantee ill keep the guide updated MONTHLY the date of the last monthly check will show up in the change log bellow and it’s a fair assumption items released prior to the last monthly check are taken into account.

Helpful ideas and suggestions to the guide are appreciated and you can either post below or PM me about it, if you do please explain the reasons behind the idea so they can be appropriately taken into consideration and keep post spam minimal (i.e. try not to post “you should add THIS ITEM” and leave it at that). Post or PMs like this will be simply ignored and hurt the guide more than it is any help. I thank anyone who takes the time to do this. Other constructive comments are always appreciated and may be posted below.

Also before suggesting an existing item make sure you have read ALL the guide and the considerations taken, a lot of the time an item isn’t precisely the STRONGEST item available but its the one that provides the best value and as such is OPTIMAL. This is specially true for weapons and spells where options are varied and the chance a slightly stronger item exists but isn’t suggested here because “upgrading” to that item is wasteful and rarely worth it. Good examples of this include things Old Spells vs New Spells, Shadow of Doubt G (or Nightmare Wyvern) vs Nemesis Testament, and Tsunami Shield vs Inundating Shield.

Questions about how good anything is for a certain build or questions involving comparisons between two or more items wont be taken into consideration either as there are appropriate areas of the forums where they can be posted (meaning not in this guide). The exception is any questions/comparisons that are necessary in a discussion about why an item should or shouldn’t get included into the guide.

 

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1 Response

  1. William says:

    fantastic guide well done and thank you

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