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The Erudite Magician

By Najule

Foreword

To give you a little background upon myself, I am Najule of the Lans T’Vyl sever, and was at one point in time Simbul Brimstone, lvl 44 mage of the Innoruk Server. I have played EQ for quite sometime now, and have my ups and downs with the game as we all have. I have written this guide for players new to the mage class. This guide can also provide a few insights to more advanced users as well. Before we get started I want to let it be known that this guide is written for the mage over the long haul. You will find as you progress in levels, fight more difficult opponents, and have better spells at your disposal your tactics will change with time. The manner in which I used my mage was at level one was different than at level 12, and the manner in which I use my mage at 44 was different than my previous tactics. This guide is here to show how to create a mage that will become a summoner of ruthless elementals, creator of burning bolts of fire, caller of vicious rains of steel, and a master of flame. In summary, mages are indeed extremely lethal as opponents and are catalysts to an outstanding group.


Background

Mages are a unique class in that they are capable of being extremely self sufficient soloing or adding to the effectiveness of a group. The list of good qualities of a mage are numerous. Mage’s are never without a tank to beat on a mob and give you some space to cast. You have almost any provision on hand that you will ever need, whether it be food, water, bandages, weapons, lightsources, or items that grant special abilities. Last only one other class can dish out more direct damage than a mage, which is the powerful wizard.


Playing a Pure Caster

In general, playing one of the four pure casters is much different than playing a warrior or a hybrid, such as a shaman. In your early levels, you will play much the same way as these class, with your melee abilities doing more damage than your spells. As time moves forward you will grow in your spell casting power. Also, the damage that a mob can inflict in a single blow increases a lot faster than what you gain in health. In your first levels, you enter the melee very regularly and casting between blows, but as you progress higher and higher you should leave the fighting to those who can take the punishment and sit back and do what you were intended for.


Mages vs. Necromancers

One of the most hotly contended arguments is which is better, mages or necromancers? Each has its strengths and weakness. The key to this argument lies in what you plan to do with most of your time. I will not even try to say one class is better than another, due to Verant's balancing of the game, but I will make suggestions based on how you wish to play. If you don’t plan to spend a whole lot of time grouping, then Necromancers hold the edge. If you wish to solo as well as spend a good deal of time in a group Mages are the choice you should make. Necromancers use damage over time spells as the backbone of their casting power. DoT’s while very efficient and do massive damage take a period of roughly 60 seconds to take full effect. Mage spells on the other hand are straight up WHAM! You press the button and you immediately see the results. The necromancer, with a full series of DoT’s stacked on his target, will do more damage over a period of sixty seconds than a mage chain-casting DD’s. But in a well balanced group, with each member concentrating on the same mob, very few mob’s will last 60 seconds. In a group a caster needs to be able to knock off big chunks of damage instantly to perform his slated duties.


Creation of your Flamethrower

Okay, now let's get to the fun, part which is picking our class, spending our points, and then entering the world of Norrath with your newborn torch.

First choose you race. Here I have listed each race and my general overview of each:

Dark Elves have high starting Intelligence and Agility. This makes life a little easier during those painful lower levels when you must melee to finish the job. They are granted ultravision that is the best night vision in the game. They also come with the ability to hide, which is useful as well. On the downside, they are evil and will have difficulties in getting a warm welcome in most towns. They will always have to work on their faction.

Erudites have the highest Intelligence and fairly high stamina as well which is very useful. They have weakness in the fact that they are without nightvision, but as a mage you later summon items that will cure that. They start out in what is one of the worst zones, but they can either take the trip to Qeynos or Paineel to hunt instead. From a purely statistic point of view Erudites hold the edge in casting classes.

Gnomes have high starting Intelligence ,good Agility, and Dexterity as well. They have infravision as well and they look kinda kooky, which makes them very unique in my opinion. They also have they ability to tinker, which at this point is not implemented so we have no idea of how good it is or not. They have a very unique starting area with plenty of variety and people, which should make the new mage feel right at home.

High Elves do have some what high Intelligence, good Agility, and high Charisma. They also come with infravision. But they start in Greater Faydark, which is one of the most crowded zones in the game, which can make life tough on a new mage trying to find something to kill. You will also not find yourself very unique.

Humans are considered the most balanced race in the game, with no glaring weakness. (Editor's (Strako's) note: One clear weakness to the Human race is having to live with yourself.) But they also have no outstanding strengths, which is in itself problematic. They are also without a form of nightvision, but that is really a secondary issue to a mage due our ability to summon infravision items. They do, however, gain levels faster than other races which can be an asset depending on how you play.

Running the risk of being berated, ranted at, and flamed, I would recommend going with the Erudite as my first choice. As a mage, I want as much mana as possible and they look so darn snazzy in those robes. Dark Elves or Gnomes would be a close second choice due to their strengths in the vital areas and the nightvision that they have. As a very distant third I rate High Elves due to their lower Intelligence and my distaste for their starting zone. I choose to give Humans the last choice because your intelligence will always much lower than the other races and therefore you will never have as much mana. Even with a slew of Intelligence raising items you will always be second best to Dark Elves, Erudites, and Gnomes of a similar level. In my personal opinion, if want to be a human, play a monk, paladin, or shadow knight, where balanced stats are a must and forget, about the pure caster classes altogether. Even with the bonus in gaining experience, you will find that as you raise in levels these races will out-perform, out-cast, and have less resists than you even, at 1 or 2 levels below you.

Points, points and more points. After we choose our race, we have to distribute our additional points. I will go through each stat one by one.

Strength: This is how much damage you can do in melee combat and how much weight you can carry in items and loot. Melee combat is of little importance to a mage, and we can summon bags that makes the items within them weigh nothing. Therefore, this stat is of little importance.

Stamina: This determines how many hitpoints you have and how far you can run and swim without tiring. As a mage, you will always have low hitpoints, so few extra may make the difference, but the stat is not all that important.

Agility: This effects how agile you are and how often you get hit. It is also a factor for determine how often you can successfully dodge a blow. This stat is useful in lower levels, but loses its importance later on as you begin to grow into your true potential.

Dexterity: This stat was once thought to relate how well you recover and continue casting after being interrupted, which was proven to be false by Verant. It does affect how often you hit with melee, missile, and thrown weapons. This is a secondary stat for mages.

Intelligence: This is the almighty king of stats for the mage. No matter what race you are, you should absolutely without question be maxed out before you even think of what to do with the remaining five points. Some guides will tell you that mages don't need that much mana, but I beg to differ. More intelligence equals more mana, and mana is the tool you work with!

Wisdom: This is the mana-generating stat for Clerics, Druids, Shamans, and Paladins. It also serves as a final check for trade skills. Unless you plan to delve heavily into a trade skill, ignore this one.

Charisma: This stat effects how NPCs in the game view you. While not as important as faction, it still has an effect. This also effects the success and duration of charm spells. As a mage, you will never get this form of spell, so this is another secondary stat.

In overview, you should place 25 points in intelligence and the additional 5 are really your personal preferences to where you place it.

After you choose a name, you will be instructed to pick a deity. This is really of no effect unless you are dark elf. So just choose your personal favorite and move on. If you are a dark elf, I would highly suggest you go agnostic, due to the fact that you are hated almost everywhere and you need all the help you can get for faction. At this point in time, you are shown where you will begin your life as a young and aspiring mage, and you will then get to enter the big wide world of Norrath.


Overview of Mage Defining Spells

As with all classes, you get a group of spells and/or skills that define your class. As with all classes, you share some of your abilities with other classes, but you have a few all your own. For the mage, your's are the ability to summon pets, summons items, cast damage shields, cast AC improvement spells, cast direct damage, cast area effect spells, cast flame bolts, and cast spells that reduce resistances. I will provide an overview of each class of spell, but I will not go into each spell. If you are looking for specific details on each spell I highly recommend that you visit EQcasters website.

Item summoning: This is part of the backbone of your class. At level one, you can summon food, water, and a dagger. As you gain levels, you will be able to summon better weapons, weightless bags, bandages, and other useful tools. This makes the mage very self-sufficient, and will make you a great provider in a group.

Pet summoning: This is another defining group of spells that you share with only one other class, which is the necromancers. But mages get 4 different pets that have different qualities and give the mage greater flexibility. Here I will define each pet an how it will help you. Knowing when to use what pet will make you all that more effective as a mage.

Earth: The earth pet comes with the highest hitpoints, but the lowest armor class. It casts the root spell, which will keep your opponent glued down and prevent them from running away or beating on your head. I use this pet against mobs that have a tendency to run to get help, or when I want to ensure I don’t get hit.

Water: The water pet is second behind the earth in hitpoints, and has the second-best armor class. It also regenerates hitpoints faster than all your pets, and casts a DD ice spell. This should be your mainstay pet; use it in most situations. If you are at the beginning of your new circle of spells and can afford only one pet, this is it.

Fire: The fire pet has the lowest hitpoints and the second-lowest armor class. It does come with a built in flame shield, and casts a pretty nasty flame-based DD spell. This pet I use when I want to clean out the hall trash, or I am fighting ice based foes. Other than that that this pet is typically too weak to use effectively.

Air: Air has the second-fewest hitpoints, but has the highest armor rating. It also casts a very effective stun spell, which is my personal favorite against NPC casters to disrupt their casting. Some guides suggest that you use this pet as your mainstay versus the water pet, due to its higher armor class and the ability to stun your target. In all honesty, if this does become your mainstay it is not a bad choice at all; you will simple have to change your tactics a bit.

Damage shields are an ability we share only with druids, and are an effective way to enhance your group. Every time a mob hits something with a flame shield, the mob takes damage. Over time, this can really add up and turn the fight in your favor. The best use is to cast this on the your pet, or the tank or tanks in your group. This spell has a variety of uses and give you great flexibility. I once had a ranger try to steal an orcish mountaineer from me, so in turn I place a flame shield on the orc. I in turn got to watch the ranger perish under the blows of a burning orc, that he typically would have been able to beat. The flame shield can also give you the ability to effect mobs that are many levels above you and resist your DD spells.

Mages get an additional line of phantom leather/chain/plate spells, which increase your armor class. While they are self-only, it is a nice addition to a pure casters who have a low armor class.

Direct damage spells are mainstay of the mage class. In various forms, mages get direct damage spells that serve as the bread and butter for dealing damage. This class of spells comes in three varieties: the shock of blades/spears/swords variety, the flame based series, and the ward summoned line. As a mage, you should always have your most current DD memorized and hotkeyed. You will note that the shock of blade/spears/swords is resisted less than your flame based DDs, due to the fact that only one resistance category is checked instead of two. This variety of DDs will become one of your most reliable spells to use. The ward summoned line is effective against only summoned creatures such as elementals, fire imps, or shadowed men. They are know for high damage output and for their low casting cost.

Flame bolts are another addition to the mages arsenal that are very useful. For one, they hit on average about 50% harder than your normal DD spell and have roughly twice the range. They are all flame-based, but they do have the downside of needing a clear path to your target and do not function well in uneven terrain. Many mages do not like this series of spell, but if they learn the how to use this spell I am sure that this class would soon become one of their personal favorites.

The rain series spells are the mage's form of area effect spell. These spells hit the targets underneath the spell with three waves of damage. Currently these spells are a contention of discontent among mages, because the manner that they deal damage is not in the form that most believe it should. AE rain spells are difficult to use but can very efficient with appropriate use, but note that the damage on these spells is capped and even if you have more mobs under the spell, the total damage dealt will not rise.

Another group of AE spells is the point blank form. While the total damage on the Rain series is capped, the total damage of the PB AE spells is not. These have a very short range but will hit everything surrounding you. These spells can be difficult to due to the fact that the if you have multiple mobs on, you are going to find it difficult to cast this spell.

Last but not least is the malise series spells, which drop the resistances of your target and allow you to be effective against creatures that would have other wise resisted your spells. When used in conjunction with an enchanter's tashan series spells, you will have little or no problems with spell resists.

This is not an end-all, be-all guide, but will give you a general basis of how to play depending on what you are doing. If you are looking for detailed and exact procedure, I again recommend that you look on message boards, other EQ-dedicated sites with player guides, or ask higher level mages in-game for their advice. One note: in-game players are your best source of information, but be polite to them and thank them for whatever advice they give. They were here before you, they have the knowledge that you desire, and they are taking time to tell you how to become a better mage. Therefore treat them with respect and you will be able to time and time again tap into the best source of knowledge that is available. With this in mind get out there, young mage, and turn that passing rat into cinders!

by Najule