Spell Caster and Gem Guide

Originally Posted by Necrox

Flareup definitley works - but only with DD spells.

The disadvantage of flare up is that it takes up a gem slot. I'm still working out if three recastable gems is better than having flare up at the moment.

Though doing 4 points with the blue cantrips are sweet while waiting for the big guns to come out. And do 3 points.

I've just puchased the blue 3 point cantrip, so I'll let you know how that goes with flare up later. Note that flare up can only maximise to the highest damage dealt by the gem. Eg. a 1-1 point cantrip with flare up will now do 1-2 damage.

The main issue is that auras take up a gem slot, and for a free account, that is extremely restrictive.

The setup I currently have is two Recastable damage spells, one flare up and the last slot is used for DD and DoT spells. Cantrips are used (blue DD and blue/green regen cantrips) are used to fill in the spaces. I'm thinking of ditching flare up and running three recastable DD spells instead (or two recastable DD spells and spell reflection aura in blue).

My current setup is 2 DD recastables (1 blk 1 red) 3 DD blks (With gem handleing im using a rank 2 and 3 DD gem ((forgot name))) 1 DD red

I'm planning on using (when i get 10 wizardry) my other gem pouch for healing gems and such, or at least 2-3 healing gems and the rest DoTs. I could use pouch 1 for leveling and killing the mobs then use the other pouch when boss questing with groups or questing places that are a tad harder for my level.

Originally Posted by shadydingo

...I'm planning on using (when i get 10 wizardry) my other gem pouch for healing gems and such, or at least 2-3 healing gems and the rest DoTs.

That's a lot of skills to learn, which is the problem with using the black/red end of things as the primary source of gem attack - which is also my problem. Those using white/green/blue/grey as their primary source don't need to even look at the black/red gems as they have their own source of damage. They may not be as powerful in terms of damage for mana/energy, but the skill level you can get with specialising means you are using more powerful gems anyway.

I'm attempting a pure blue build at the moment using a jeweller base for draw haste. Much easier to get skills to what you need. He's currently level 2 and has level 10 blue magic already. No need for any other color (except grey & white later).

Originally Posted by Necrox

Does anyone out there use the + resistance to blue aura? I was wondering wether to actually get grey magic up and use these as well?

While I'm at it, does anyone know the difference between how the grey damage absobption and fading damage absoption works?

i believe damage absorption lasts until the whole amount of protection is used up and the fading goes away after a set time even if the opponent has not caused the total amount of protected damage

As they stack, it would probably be beneficial at higher levels to cast multiple non-fading shields at once. At lower levels definitely, the ramparts are better shields for mana - especially against bosses.

Hi! I wanted to ask if the spellcaster (magician) needs any exp in melee defense and recovery and if I do how much I need :]

Recovery can be offset with healing gems/pets and mana/energy gems. Defense is pretty much the same, though Cnt & Dur are handy if you are going it alone (without a group).

Melee however is pretty important as it has the Str (for damange/hit ratio) and Pst (for energy). 1 Pst/Mst = around 3 points of energy/mana.

You will have to work out for yourself though on what spells/colours you want to specialise in, and work out what you need to level. There is a lot of range there to choose from.

[doctor-warlord]

well as for choosing gem colors to specialise in i would say you should base it on the primary type of gems you want to use and possibly also class bonus color or gem type

for instances priest should choose white magic because they get class bonus to those

and wizard for instances should choose any color they like but most go for DD gems since thats what they get a bonus too

I'm playing a magician and now that I'm past the initial bit of what the hell am I doing phase I'm looking into long term planning for this character. What I'm noticing is there's not one stat category I can really dump if I want to be effective as a caster which means I'll never get my Magic up to 100.

I rely on a stave to do consistent damage so I need STR from Melee
I use DD spells so I'll need all 3 stats from Magic to be as high as possible
Defense is basically the only thing that will keep me alive, other classes can cast healing spells and such, Casters don't have this luxury if were trying to do any damage.
Recovery is probably even more important for a caster as we have 3 stats that have to regen after each battle.

What am I missing, what should I be slacking off on so I can focus on magic and recovery? I know it says were not supposed to be good at melee and defense but neglecting STR seems like it would really hurt our damage capability unless max damage for staves is based off of a different stat. And are casters just supposed to be weak defensively? That doesn't seem the best solution either as without the gems for defense and healing in addition to generally not taking defensive stats, they would seem the weakest of the classes.

well it depends personally i am forsaking str until level 20 because then u have crush spec raise rthe crap outta that and u got ur damage but i wouldnt not raise it at all u still gotta hit them after all :S

[zenga]

Originally Posted by Malinore

Recovery is probably even more important for a caster as we have 3 stats that have to regen after each battle.

recovery is worthless in combat and outside combat. a good idea is to stay a bit longer in combat, have a 2nd pouch full of heals (gem handling lvl 10 required), switch pouch and use heals and mana/energy replenish gems. in no time you are regen'd, no maxed regen stat can beat that.

Originally Posted by Malinore

What am I missing, what should I be slacking off on so I can focus on magic and recovery? I know it says were not supposed to be good at melee and defense but neglecting STR seems like it would really hurt our damage capability unless max damage for staves is based off of a different stat. And are casters just supposed to be weak defensively? .

I have a lvl 70 angel who has no points in str/dex, full pst. The reason is that i find the DD gems damage way higher than the crushing damage from the staff. It gives me energy enough to keep casting dd gems. I mainly use recastable black & white gems, they tend to use energy. I only have a few points in mst (mana), just to use energy replenish gems. Defense is important like any other char.

I must note that the skills that unlock at lvl 20, 40 and 60 are awesome for casters (like 2 stats to double your amount of energy or mana, ...). I bet you can find them on the forum.

I also have a normal caster (str, spread stats, etc), but i'll redistribute him like the one i described earlier.

Thanks, that helps a bit, so if you don't up STR but you have your staff skill maxed, do you still get average damage with the staff versus almost always minimum when your staff skill is too low?

My Blue gems tend to be balanced in what they use and my Red gems tend to use lots of mana but I'm using a balance gem at the moment so I'm always about equal and I stay in combat till they are balanced out then exit, I can see staying in combat a bit longer then switching out another bag (working on passively getting wizardry 10 atm)

Was hoping to use the second bag for escapes too, ran into a boss the first square out of t2 and all my gem slots filled so no chance to escape. Also, what schools are the restore gems generally in? I've already got blue and red magic, staves and suiting that I need to keep on the brink of awesome compared to level in order to best make use of rested time, what other skills am I going to have to add to this?

[doctor-warlord]

actually you can skip the recovery stat completely as a spellcaster and you can als partially keep defense stats weaker as you can make up for that with a heals

I am a lvl 23 warlock should I be distributing my points in magic to int and cnc? right now i have an Int of 180 and a cnc of 120. My real question is how much does cnc reduce the resist of my spells by the mobs and is it worth it to put points into over just going for raw int for max DD on spells?

Thank You

[doctor-warlord]

you should keep cnc at your lvl +100 if you want to even be able to hit creatures with spells later on as the resist chance is as far as i know determined by your cnc and creatures cnt

also another good way to start as a spellcaster, is arm your staff with the aura of sloth gem, i found this slows down the rate a witch you get hit by opponents spells, i used this with an angel character, and found i could beat most oppenents at the start, but i also lvled staffs, crit hits and two handed.

[mylix]

ok for a lv 45 enchanter what is best to use dd or dot me so lost i do duelwield or should i use a stave?

[Smashbros]

Originally Posted by mylix

ok for a lv 45 enchanter what is best to use dd or dot me so lost i do duelwield or should i use a stave?

if your casting a staff is better, always.

and i find DD better then DoT but at higher end games teh DoT can be better (havent tested it)

[mylix]

ty for the info me will give it a try

Hi. I have played this game now off & on over the past year. I think I'm on my 3'rd character now. I seem to keep having problems with the attribute stats, & skill levelling. I'm not sure where to put the 3 attribute points when you level up. And the 4 main skills that make you level, not sure which not to level for a spell caster. I know I need intel, & recov. But do I need melee & defence? So, right now, I'm trying to train from this guide here, but still think I'm messing up. Here's my info:

Attributes:
Class: Wizard lvl 3
str 94 / dex 104 / pst 105 / int 118 / cnc 99 / mst 101 / ag 99 / cnt 115 / dur 93 / pre 108 / mre 103 / reg 108

Stats
Melee lvl 1 / Magic lvl 6 / Defence lvl 2 / Recovery lvl 6 / Class Enhancement lvl 3 / Double Bond lvl 4 / Epicurious lvl 3

Learning
Active Acceleration lvl 4 / Passive Advancement lvl 3 / Rush of knowledge lvl 2 / Rollover Cap lvl 2 / Group Acumen lvl 2 / Advanced Learning lvl 3 / Extened Study lvl 4

Weaponry
Slashing lvl 0 / Piercing lvl 0 / crushing lvl 0 / Critical Strike lvl 2 / Overcrit lvl 2 /
Two Handed lvl 2 / Hemorrhage lvl 1

Protection
Suiting lvl 3 / No others

Life Magic
Sorcery lvl 2 / White Magic lvl 2 / Green Magic lvl 2 / Mental Conservation lvl 1 / No others

Death Magic
Diabolism lvl 2 / Red Magic lvl 2 / Black Magic lvl 2 / Staves lvl 3 / No others

Psych Magic
Mind Bending lvl 2 / Blue Magic lvl 2 / Grey Magic lvl 2 / Wizardry lvl 3 / No others

Beast Mastery
Petmanship lvl 4 / No others

Ok. So do I need all those skills? Or only a few of them to do some damage & stay alive? I just seem to feel over wealmed & not sure weather to continue playing or start a new character. Did I mess this character up too yet? Can anyone give me some advice as to which skills & attribute points I basicly need to have a good spellcatser? I really love this game. Just kinda hard to figure out.

Thanks to any & all that may have some nice advice for a rookie.