Completing Why the rush with mage

I have been trying to get every achievement in the game and I'm currently aiming at completing "Why the Rush?". I made a mage on normal difficulty and quickly completed quests. I chose mage for a few reasons:

- Because he can deal a lot of damage quickly he is capable of defeating enemies far above his level as long as he has mana. Because of this I managed to complete web of terror at level 9.

- Since mages get mana from Intellect and Personality I could easily dump all my trait points in these skills. This also helped completing quests a lot easier so I hit two birds with one stone.

- Mages can learn Gate, this makes it a lot easier to teleport to wherever I need to be for quests and rumor bosses, without needing to spend a lot of money on teleportation scrolls.

- Mages can summon monsters that are very useful in absorbing the hits from some beings in the final area of the game (keeping this vague to avoid spoilers)

However even with all this in the favor of mages I still hit a roadblock. While I rushed through the quests and got good loot and reputation from that, leveling is going very slow. I'm now a member of the wizards guild and have got a few black shards already, but I'm already at day 80 and only level 13.

This low level has one big problem, rumor bosses that drop shards don't spawn yet. So I now need to grind to get to a higher level so I can move on. This grinding will take a lot of time and I'm afraid that this might cost me my run since my mage isn't designed to grind for a long time.

Do you guys think that it's still possible to get this achievement? Any advice from people that have the achievement already? I could respec but I don't want to do it more often since it'll keep on getting more expensive. Also I don't know what kind of mage build is capable of long grinding periods without needing to rest since mages depend heavily on mana.

1. Rumor bosses spawn independent of the level, you have to complete the main quest up to collecting shards. Maybe you get not enough rumor so you don't know where to find them
1a. You don't need the rumor bosses for collecting all shards, there are enough enemies which drop that, just have a look at the wiki
http://www.exiledkingdoms.com/wiki/inde ... ds_of_Fate

There are 13 constant shards

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2. Best Charakter to finish the game fast is the Cleric, there is a video of (I think) lvl 15 cleric killing the horror

My experience with Mage is mostly as a spell caster, like the Elementalist build I posted recently. It is mana heavy and grinding depends on good use of companion and mana conservation but I wouldn’t say it allows you to grind for very long. I’ve started a new run using summoner build, based on my experience so far and from what I’ve read in other posts as well it seems that the summoner build can last longer if used with Hirge for the heals. You can also use scrolls of planar binding to heal. Between scrolls, Hirge's heals and mana potions you should last very long. I imagine a build like this at level 13:

Skills:

• Mana Surge II

• L. Summoning II

• Staff Mastery III

• Mage Armor I

• Fire Mastery I

• Earth Mastery II

• Summoner III

• Arcanist I

That is exactly 25 skill points, as you'd have at lvl 13 and you'll want to max out Arcanist, Staff Mastery, Mana Surge, Earth Mastery, probably in that order moving forward.

Traits (with 4 Ancient Tolassian Tomes):

• Endurance Lvl 3 (needed for arcanist)

• Intellect Lvl 5

• Personality Lvl 4 (needed for Earth Mastery)

You'll have 0 unused trait points at level 13. Moving forward, if you're aiming for the most 'peaceful' ending then you'll need at least 3 awareness + 2 from an item (Amulet of Dark Whispers is good). Otherwise, I'd put more points into agility, or if you're good at not getting hit then into INT Lvl 6 for more damage, since staff build.

This type of build would rely on your staff for most of the damage (and it will be very high). Arcanist will make your mana last longer. Hirge should use only Heal Wounds, Crusader, Nivaria's Barrier, prioritized in that order, and use a shield. This is just an idea, I haven't tested it and maybe someone with more summoner experience can give better advice but I hope it helps. Best of luck. Hope to hear an update if you manage to complete it, with your build.

BattleLord":1bfpw76p said:

Because of this I managed to complete web of terror at level 9.

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Wow!

Clerics, as a class, seem able to complete the game a few levels shorter than any other class. Mages have great damage output but will struggle on low-level and speed runs due to their limited defenses and, as a class, mages are hurt more by low-level aspects of a speed run.

If I was in your shoes, I might suggest working on the fixed drop shards. A few might be pretty easy for you to get.

Thanks for all the tips. Cleric would indeed probably have been easier for this but I only just noticed that they can learn Gate too, and Gate is an essential part needed to complete this. But I'll try to complete it with Mage for now.

I'm currently at day 100 and already level 16 after going on an undead hunting spree. Because of this I now have half of the needed shards to complete this quest.

As a build I'm using a bit of a mixed build that could answer the different challenges that I had to face without needing to respec yet. I'm waiting for the ark to create an optimal build. Right now I have:

Lighting bolt IV: To kill all the monsters and bosses. My main way of dealing damage.
Fireball I: I needed this to get through the troll area and get to the wizards guild.
Ice storm I: Very weak but it is very useful as a way to get enemies that are around a corner to attack without needing to run around the corner and expose yourself.
Mage Armor I: Essential for surviving traps.
Staff Mastery II: I'll probably get this higher after the respec but I don't have the points for it now.
Lesser Summoning II: Needed to be able to use other summoning skills.
Mana Surge I: Surprisingly I don't have had mana problems yet. Will probably upgrade this for the Ark too.
Extra Recovery II: Great way of getting mana again and keep going. But it takes a lot of Skill Points.
Gate II: Essential for doing everything in the time limit. Makes everything a lot easier.
Fire Mastery II: I chose Fire to help with the trolls.
Summoner I: Something to dump my last stat point in before respecing.

I haven't gotten points in Arcanist yet because I don't have enough Endurance for it.

As companion I don't use Hirge but a full tank Grissenda. This helps a lot with taking down bosses to just be able to stay far away and let her and the elementals take the damage.

Since I have 80 more days to get the last 6 shards I'll probably be able to make it but I'll keep you guys updated with how it goes and what build I'll end up using to complete the Ark. It'll probably be some version of the summoner build since that one is very strong in the Ark.

I also try to complete all the achievements friend, I am already in my eighth character and I can assure you, making a cleric you will have the achievement that you aim for easily. My mage is level 20, and with the main quest gone, with less than 90 days, the build I used was a caster + fire golem, I ran to get them quickly and put my game forward. in the end, I researched to do a build directly to ark, in short, I'll leave below the photo of the amount of achievements. I have and the photo of my Mage, whose leveling was very fast in a few days within the game for the benefit of the intelligence points (+ 2% exp). We can exchange ideas about achievements if you want.

BrunoPlay":2zcv0ep7 said:

My mage is level 20, and with the main quest gone, with less than 90 days

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Wow, that's really impressive. How did you get such an high level that quickly? I get that scrolls and high intelligence helped. But I had those too and I only reached 17 in 100+ days. Where did you farm for the xp?

Also I'll certainly contact you to talk more about achievements and possible builds. I see you also don't have all of them yet.

Keep in mind the game XP mechanics. The game awards more XP for fighting enemies at or above your current level. Thus moving forward in game content, thus fighting enemies at or about your current level, is going to result in faster level gains per in-game day.

Skipping Town Hall Quests and Rumor Bosses helps save in-game days as well. Gossip time really eats up the in-game calendar.

But Level 20 by Day 90 seems a bit committed.....

BattleLord":2grjneek said:

How did you get such an high level that quickly?

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I simply got the caster, the fire golem and Hirge to heal my golem, and went directly to the fixed bosses who drop black fragments.
Finally, when I join the 12 and deliver to tremadan, I dispense with the companion and activate some 15% parchment left over, so the xp that I receive is very high, and aside I did a few side quests, I went directly to the path towards Ark to level up fast. when you finish the game, you get an absurd xp too.

Anyway, I only did the quests that I needed to advance to the end of the game, advancing a lot of my process and there is no mystery, just have fire golem + caster, both skills are essential to advance fast in the mage game.

Here is the whole build of my second Mage character I created recently (with the intention of recording new videos for my channel) With this I intend to finish all the quests as in my rogue and warrior.
You can build on it:
character

details

days

traits

skills


skills: fireball III, magic armor I, mastery in staff I, minor evocation II, source of mana III.
advanced skills: portal II, fire golem III, ice golem II, caster III.

I played with staff from the beginning until now. missing the quests: where is amarisa ?, the ark of lothasan, the primal forge, the ancient seal, the mithrosian codex, the sewer of horrors and the lost kingdom.
in my other mage character, I simply jumped several quests and went directly doing the main ones in the story. as mage does very well in the ark, I managed to finish before the 90 days in which my current mage character is