Healthy Obsidian Mage
It is possible to build a very playable Mage character starting with the BASIC Mage skills and buffing them up. A Mage who uses both Shadow and Fire spells will come out as an Obsidian Mage.
Contents |
Skills
BASIC MAGE SKILLS FROM STARTING CHARACTER:
| Fire Bolt This is your primary ranged attack spell against a single foe. |
| Shadow Lightning will be your principal offensive attack. It will do plenty of damage to several foes at once. |
| Bookworm increases your Mana 100%, but reduces Health 25%. |
| Mental Prowess increases ALL magic damage by 20%. |
Most mages do fine getting through Dew Valley Forest with this skills tray. But when the going gets tougher you need to add some more skills:
| Dark Wizardry really upgrades your Shadow Lightning damage. |
| Improved Shadow Lightning This just kicks up the jumping but should be in your Skill tray as a Passive. |
| Pyromania upgrades your Fire damage. |
| Ring of Fire is a great area of attack spell, especially if you are running solo. |
This should now make you an Obsidian Mage skilled with both Fire and Shadow. You can do very well with this character. The only problem is that -25% Health from being such a Bookworm. There is a way around that:
| Gym Freak is a skill usually used by fighters. It gives you +50% Health but -25% Mana. However, look at the combination wth Bookworm! The net result is +75% Mana and +25% Health! (See Gym Freak and Bookworm.) |
This Skills Tray should make you a Healthy Obsidian Mage!! It is very effective in most dungeons. With nine spots in your skills tray filled it leaves you space for one Resistance. Since I hate Venom monsters I usually add:
| Poison Resistance |
And my build is complete. This build has been tested all the way up to The Shadow's Embrace with very good effect.
TWEAKS: If you are in a dungeon which has monsters that are very resistant to one of your basic skills, Fire or Shadow, you can replace one of them with:
| Ice Bolt |
| Chilling Touch |
A Shadow/Ice combination will make you a Hydrostatic Mage, while a Fire/Ice combination will make you an Entropic Mage!
Strategy / Usage
- Before the fight activate your Resistance, Pyromania and Dark Wizardry. Get as close to the monsters as you can before activating them. BE PREPARED.
- Start blasting the strongest monster with your Fire Bolt. You can usually take out one or two strong monsters as they run toward you.
- If you are in a group, try to stay a short distance from the main melee, just close enough to use Shadow Lightning, and blast away.
- If you are running solo, as soon as several reach you, use Ring of Fire and then alternate Fire Bolt with Shadow Lightning (see Two Button Mage). Occasionally you can use Ring of Fire again.
- When the fodder and normals are dead, use continuous Fire Bolts to finish off the big guys.
- If the monsters are tough, keep pouring down the Health and Mana potions. If you double hit the space bar you will gain Health faster than you lose it. Sure, it is expensive but you need it!
- When the monsters succumb to your mighty powers, start gathering Loot.
Advantages
- With the passive combination you keep your Health up while still boosting your Mana. You should have a lot of both of them by the time you get a few levels.
- This build gives you ranged and area attacks with Fire plus that jumping Shadow Lightning attack which will often eliminate weaker monsters as you concentrate on the tougher ones.
Disadvantages
- Your skills tray is so full you have room for only one Resistance. Since most higher level dungeons contain at least two types of monsters this can be a problem. You may have to give up Ring of Fire to gain an additional resistance, and rely on Shadow Lightning to work like an area effect.