Help with mage build

RPGamer

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I'm currently playing the game as a mage character for the first time, and I'm having trouble deciding what route to go.

1) "Spellsword" build: mages can't actually use swords, however, there are several daggers that I could/can use as a mage. For this build my character would obviously use a dagger as a main weapon, and for skills she could use Mage armor, mage barrier, fireball, ice storm, and/or lightning bolt. The idea behind this build would be to weaken enemies with any/all combinations of fireball, ice storm, and lightning bolt, then finish them off with a dagger and the damage from mage barrier. The problem with this build is that I don't know if the "Disintegrate" advanced skill works for melee weapons or if it only works for staves/wands. If Disintegrate doesn't work with daggers, I'm not sure If I could do enough damage with the dagger(s) to make this build worthwhile.

2) ranged build. If I were to go this route, I would focus on using either a wand or a staff (probably a staff because I like doing as much damage as possible). Disintegrate would certainly work for this build, but the question here is: would It still be worth it to put points into mage armor/barrier or would it be better to focus on fireball, ice storm, and lightning bolt and use those in conjunction with a wand/staff and try to kill all my enemies before they get to me?

I guess what I'm really trying to ask is: does the Disintegrate skill work with melee weapons, or does it only affect staves/wands?
 

DavidBVal

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Daggers for mages are situational at best... stick with either wand or staff.

Barrier is one of the most popular skills, helping you to survive in dire situations and in the end-game providing a decent amount of valuable shock damage (once upgraded)
 

BattleLord

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First of all, yes Disintegrate works on daggers. I tried it and it's a good way to deal damage.

Now, on the main question if you should make a Spellsword character?

Maybe, but not as a normal character. If you want that kind of build it will be an extremely challenging game where you need to survive with the limitations you put on yourself. Certainly since after a certain point it gets very hard to get a stronger dagger and you'll be limited to use your skills to the absolute maximum to survive. This kind of build will slow down your game a lot and you'll be forced to invest enough points in agility and endurance to be able to deal a bit more damage and survive with the weaker hp pool of a mage. Prepare to visit the inn even more then usual at the lower levels. However if that's your kind of challenge, go ahead and don't forget to post your progress here.

Take my word from it as someone who has tried this kind of challenge (but even more extreme) before:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16780
 

RPGamer

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My mage character is kinda weak right now since she's only level 9 but she'll probably be nearly unstoppable later on. Here are all her current Stats:
Intellect: 5
Awareness: 1
Personality: 1
Strength: 1
Endurance: 2
Agility: 1

Health: 106
Mana: 142
Armor: 8 (or 9 if using a buckler with a wand or dagger)
Skills: Mana Surge 3
Skill points Available: 11

Right now I'm trying to focus on getting her Endurance to 4 and her Strength to 3 so she can learn Body Development and Massive Criticals. After that I'll be able to focus on putting more points into Agility, which I'll need no matter which build I ultimately decide to try. This is where I get kinda stuck again though....if I decide to go with the ranged build I'll also want to learn Arcanist and Precision Shots. I can get the required traits/skills for both of those pretty easily, but getting these skills would mean having to level up several more times before she's at "full power" and I guess that pretty much sums up the builds:
The Spellsword build may not be as powerful, but this build would require less skills than the ranged build so I could achieve this build sooner.
The ranged build would probably be more powerful but will likely take more time to actually come to fruition.
 

p4ran0id

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You should decide which build you prefer.

Since you don't have any active skills, I don't understand why you chose 5 INT and mana surge.

Also STR 3 or END is kind of stupid decision, you should concentrate on AGI first so you can do more damage with light or range weapons (it gives you also a higher armor).
Also you should decide if you want to become a summoner or not.

In my opinion, the most important skills for a mage are mage armor and Mage Barrier, it's kind of essential for surviving. Also Staff or wand mastery. That has the highest priority (of course you can combine with other skills, but get that at least lvl2 before body development and Co)

Also don't choose too many active skills, precision shot and massive criticals is a better choice to make more damage.
 

RPGamer

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I got my intellect up to 5 because I like the bonus XP and because Disintegrate requires intellect to be at least level 5 before I can learn it. I figured I'd accomplish that early on so that I could learn Disintegrate as soon as I make it to Icemist and because the bonus XP gain would help me progress faster through the early stages of the game. Mana Surge doesn't do me any good yet since I haven't decided which build I'm gonna go with yet, but I'll definitely need a lot of Mana for either build, so I figured it would be a good idea to go ahead and invest points in the one skill I know I'll need at this point, and then figure out what I want to do with my remaining skill points. How is putting points into strength and endurance stupid? As a mage I'll definitely need the extra health from Endurance and Body Development and Strength will give a little extra health as well...but I'll mostly need strength just so I can get Massive Criticals.
I definitely don't want to be a summoner....frankly, I don't even know why that option is in the game. None of the creatures you can summon are powerful enough to useful past like level 15 so trying to make a summoner build is a complete waste of time in my opinion.
I'm thinking about starting off with the Spellsword build and use that until I get precision shots and Massive Criticals, then reset my skill points and switch to the ranged build
 

BattleLord

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RPGamer":17iduuyj said:
I definitely don't want to be a summoner....frankly, I don't even know why that option is in the game. None of the creatures you can summon are powerful enough to useful past like level 15 so trying to make a summoner build is a complete waste of time in my opinion.

I fully disagree with that, the mage summoner build is one of the strongest mage builds you can have. A level 18 iron golem is a terrifying creature to be able to summon at will. It has good resistances and high armor. As a competent tank and decent damage dealer it made end game areas like the Citadel and Ark a breeze to go through (except the radiated parts). It can be combined with Hirge to heal it and be absolutely unstoppable. And even if your summon dies you can quickly bring in a new one to finish the job. And since you are able to summon it inside the Ark, you can have a tank even when you don't have a companion with you to protect you.

And even besides the really powerful iron golem, the rest of the summons are a big help as an extra source of health and damage, or as distraction while trying to escape a horde of monsters. The sparkling was great in the early levels, but he's not as competent as the golems. The fire golem helped me clear the Troll area at a very early level. The only summon I didn't use was the Ice golem since the Fire golem was more useful and afterwards I switched to an Iron golem.
 

Cajin

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Ummm mage summoner IS NOT weak at all... my mage is now level 21 and the iron golem is not only a beast tank but does some pretty great damage too! Matched up with hirge as a healer/tank the iron golem is invincible! I normally have hirge set to not attack anything unless attacked or if fighting undead. Body development is ok I guess for mage, but your missing out on other potential skills and you will still be squishy as heck.
 

p4ran0id

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Also, lesser summoning is an awesome help at Ark, against steel wizard it is indestructible and can keep the enemy busy. The steel wizard can't do any damage to the lesser summoning, it just heal him and you have a lot of time to kill that wizard. ;)
 

BattleLord

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p4ran0id":2jizd3vy said:
Also, lesser summoning is an awesome help at Ark, against steel wizard it is indestructible and can keep the enemy busy.

The iron golem is still a better choice for that though. It has also full electric resistance so wizards and droids can't harm it but it is a lot more resistance against the attacks from the spiders. My sparkling never survived long when a spider and wizard attacked together, but my golem could tank them both with ease. Though of course, using the iron golem costs a lot more stat points then just spending a few to summon a sparkling.
 

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