Avrenka

Mathematician Avrenka
Status
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Guild	Moon Mage
Instance	Prime

A Human who values knowledge above all else, Avrenka seeks the truth and its meaning behind everything. Skeptical to a fault, he takes no one at their word -- but equally, he will not dismiss anyone's words without careful consideration. To him, social constructs hold no value -- only truth and knowledge have merit.

Background

Avrenka, whose name means "Moon Tree" in Gamgweth, was born under an oak tree at a night when all three moons shone brightly.

Raised on the outskirts of Dirge by his father, an apothecarist, Avrenka was no stranger to delivering medicines to miners injured from accidents, trolls, volcanic eruptions, to name a few. And while his two older brothers demonstrated talent and skill in the healing arts, Avrenka found he had none.

Instead, he excelled at school, particularly in Mathematics and Astrology. So when he became of age, with his father's reluctant approval, Avrenka moved to Crossing to become a Moon Mage to pursue greater knowledge on how the universe works.

Nowadays, Avrenka spends his time conducting magical research experiments, and maintains his adolescent practice of rescuing fallen adventurers.

Avrenka's Crappy Guide to Starting a Moonmage

"Hey, you. You're finally awake." -Ralof

1 - Forage sticks/branches and sell 'em to Mags for a few gold

2 - Go to Tembeg's, buy 1 of each armor type covering every body part (recommended: leather hauberk, plate gauntlets, chain helm, scale mask), and buy target shield (toggle shield A, wear shield)

3 - Type STANCE. Always max out Evasion Stance, then split the rest between Shield and Parry.

4 - Go to the Tanner, ask falken for rope, toggle bundle W

5 - Go to shipyard rats, skin every rat you kill and bundle it with the rope, wear the bundle, adjust it and tie it. Train offhand (feint left), TM (target stra, wait, cast), Debil (prep burden, cast). Prioritize balance gaining attacks like feint, jab, gouge, bob.

6 - Study divine charm. Learn how to use it to heal yourself and teleport yourself around. It stops working after several circles. You lose the starting spells EASE, MAF, BURDEN, and STRA after Circle 10. Familiarize yourself with the Empath guild and find out how to get healing before the charm stops working.

7 - Go back to the tanner, sell your bundle. Do this until you have 5 gold. Or go scavenging in the Empath Courtyard, sometimes people drop nuggets or other sellables on the ground or in the statue that you can sell at either the Gemshop or Pawnshop.

8 - Go to Milgrym's, buy 1 of each weapon type (recommended: scimitar, bola, broadsword, greathammer, greataxe, flail, shortbow + arrows, crossbow + bolts, sling + rocks), and buy parry stick and wear it.

9 - Go to the backroom of Berolt's, buy two weapon straps, then go back to Milgrym's and buy a spear and quarterstaff. Tie the straps to the spear and quarterstaff, and wear them over your shoulder as those 2 weapons won't fit in backpacks.

10 - Now you're fully kitted out. Look up Zoluren Hunting Ladder in elanthipedia, follow the progression.

11 - Train every skill. Type "EXP 0" and look up each skill in elanthipedia.org. It'll tell you how to train each skill.

12 - For training magic, cast at the most mana you can before failing. Use DISCERN <SPELL> to figure it out. Later on, you'll need to add in PREP SYMBIOSIS to make spells more difficult, in order to keep your training up. For sorcery, get a Bless runestone from Sierack's, focus it until it stops teaching, then start casting it. Get Sorcerous Patterns feat to reduce backlash rate.

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him... better, stronger, faster." -Oscar Goldman

Stats -- raise what you need. Priority is getting your Encumbrance down to (None), so raise Str and Stam until it's gone. If you're getting hurt too much in combat, raise Ref. Raise Str and Agi to reduce swingtime on attacks. Raise Wis, Int and Disc when possible to increase learning rate (there are whispers that only Wis impacts learning rate, but this is not conventional wisdom). No need to raise Cha. Stats have diminished returns after 30, further diminshed returns after 60, and even more so after 100.

-- It is possible to train physicals to only 30, and then raise mentals to 100 to min/max learning rate -- but you need good armor, shield and parry stick, and a solid understanding of combat mechanics. Many people simply raise all stats evenly, except Cha of course.

Crucial Spells to get:

1 - get PG as soon as possible, training Astro is very difficult without it.

2 - get CALM, it's easier to train Debil with it than Burden

3 - get TKT for training TM, it's super fast

4 - get MAF, you'll need it as it'll be awhile until you can cast TKSH

5 - beeline toward SHW (need 80 Debil), it'll make training Debil insanely easy

6 - beeline toward SEER (need 80 Aug & Util), it gives evasion buff

7 - beeline toward COL (need 80 Ward), it makes hunting safer

8 - get Shift Moonbeam, Locate, Moongate, and Ripplegate Theory (need 80 Util) -- otherwise why did you even make a Moonmage?!

9 - get AUS/Shadowling, more mana is always nice

Now feats:

1 - Sorcerous Patterns to reduce backlash rates

2 - Injured Casting & Cautious Casting so you don't fail every spell when you're hurt

3 - Deep Attunement & Efficient Harnessing for more mana

4 - Raw Channeling & Efficient Channeling to use cylics

5 - Magic Theorist & Improved Memory to use spell scrolls

Advanced Spells to get:

1 - RTR, this makes training Astro so much easier

2 - DC, this helps maxxing out your Divination Tool a lot faster and easier. Tools are useful for reliable targeted predicts, which can fail even at 1,000 Astro ranks (with min Cha). Buy the 700 plat tool you see in fests, the 7k plat tool is overkill and not needed. Tools cheaper than 700 plat will not max out. You can forget this spell after you've maxed out your tool.

3 - TKS, makes training TM even easier and farms fast

4 - TKSH, our best ward

5 - IotS, extra stats is always useful

6 - Riftal Summons -- Shift Moonbeam has a range limit of 2 zones. RS has no limitation at all.

7 - Shear + Lay Ward -- if you ever find yourself struggling against enemies that cast spells at you, these two spells will block anything they throw at you. You just have to remember to use it!

8 - Feats: Faster Targeting, Faster Matrices, Faster Battle Prep are nice for casting spells a little faster, meaning faster training

"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road..." -Greenday

Now comes the great question -- will you PvP, or will you remain in PvE? If the latter, then your build is completely flexible from here on out. Choose whatever spells you like, it has little bearing on your ability to hunt. You will have spell slots in abundance, you won't even know what to do with it all.

If, however, you decide to undertake the road less traveled, you must plan your spell & feat selection carefully. You cannot get everything you want.

Crucial PvP spells: WD, PD, Burn, IFL, Sorrow, Mindshout, Unleash, Rend, Shear, RF, Shape Moonblade, SCO, and SLS.

Crucial PvP feats: Debil Mastery, TM Mastery

Helpful PvP feats: Silent Prep, Advanced Spell Knowledge

Spells to avoid: SoV, Empower Moonblade, ART/TS/MT, Sleep, Thoughtcast, Hypnotize. I also did not have the slots for Shadewatch Mirror or Contingency, tho both very good open world spells.

Gear you need to PvP:

Armor -- full Leather suit. Start with onyx-hide, work your way up to Punka, then Shadowleaf/MT end-loot. For shield, start with onyx-hide, then work your way up to agonite triangular sipar, then diamond-hide/octagonal.

Weaponry -- TM accuracy focus is by far the most important thing you could ever have. For weapons, haralun or MT incidental is good enough. Heck some of my weapons are steel.

Misc -- most important scrolls for Unleashing: AD, RAGE, and AS/Awaken. Important scrolls to invoke: IP, HoT, Tremor, Bonegrinder. Secondary scrolls for Unleashing to land debils and resist enemy debils: Centering, Courage, EY, HES or GOL, NON, REPR, SUF, SW, Tranquility, SOS. Other important scrolls for Unleashing to enable weapons: RW, RUE, RESO, TW, Ignite.

-- if you have a gyre, you don't need the following scrolls: AS/Awaken, SOS, EY, WOTP, NON, LGV, SUF, SW, SUB.

-- you can use predicts to buff your magicks (TM being the most important, but Aug and Debil can be important too), Shield, Defending, and Tactics, so you won't need SUB, SR, or WOTP scrolls.

-- herbs. If you're on a budget, just get the ones for your chest, abdomen, and limbs. Maybe nerves. But having the all heal herbs are really nice, if not pricey. Herbs are crucial for winning any fight that goes longer than 3min.

See my crappy guide to PvP for more info.

"Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before." -CS Lewis

Choose a sect! Or don't, it's not obligatory. Btw it's permanent, non-reversible.

1 - Heritage House -- gives you a cantrip that reverses predict curses, very useful when you fail a predict. Reduces Unleash scroll destruction rate by a lot.

2 - Tezirite -- can predict curse easier. Reduced Bonegrinder backlash.

3 - Monk -- has a balance raising cantrip, balance is always good. Gains an extra Sorrow cast charge (~+9% dmg on avg).

All the other sects are PvP neutral

Avrenka's Crappy Guide to Moonmage PvP

"You have Unleash to put up other buffs to Batman your way to victory. You can get away with anything." -Rakkor

MM Strengths:

1 - versatile kit means you can have an answer for almost any situation, given the right prep

2 - extremely f2p friendly, Unleash obviates any need for wands or tattoos or gyre

3 - high potential damage

MM Weaknesses:

1 - requires the most prep time

2 - high skill ceiling, must understand every matchup

3 - lowest defense

Stage 1 - Mental Prep: Strategize

"What I learned at Tournament Camp this fall ... Have a plan. Have a backup plan. Have a backup plan to the backup plan." -Valynn

1 - Group fight - two ways to fight: aggressive and defensive

• default defensive, since MM is so paper thin
• stay hidden & invis, be last to act, keep your eye on enemy primary damage dealer
• let them come to you: setup Tremor, as these pulses do not reveal you
• if you're being focused, consider moving and hiding while putting up Shear. Then prep Sorrow or a debil, so you can immediately cast when you jump back in (don't forget to rejoin group leader)
• if you can afford to go full offense, do so. I.e. you're not primary target or you have a paladin/empath covering you
• in general, MS and Rend are your two most powerful debils, IF you can land them. Big IF, they're hard to land unless they're stunned first (see Moonblade Tactics at the end of this guide). Otherwise, use IP to hard stun and tank their balance. Tremor is also extremely powerful, but hard to cast. CotW and ANC are decent, since they're easier to land. Against tanky opponents, use HoT to strip their wards, if you can't land Rend.

2 - 1v1s

• vs Stealthers (Ranger, Thief, Necro) -- use AVA to reveal, try to inflict nerve damage with MB, use WATCH if allowed. Spam Sorrow, the bolts pull them out of hiding. TKS also pulls out of hiding, but you'll have to guess when they're in the room with you. MS and SHW also hits hiders, but you won't know if it does or not.
• vs Weapons (Paladin, Barb, Thief) -- be very conscious of your MAF going down, MAF is literally your lifeline. WD and Shove are also essential, unless you like eating 30% impales. Be ready to curse HT if you know they will spam hurl.
• vs Magic -- LW + Shear is essential. Re-up Shear as much as possible.
• vs Anti-Magic (Forsaken, Trader, WM) -- you need to use weapons. Put up RW, TW, RESO, RUE, and Ignite along with LW + Shear. Your combo is debil, rush, impale, palm, then Hurl spam until 90 sec you can do it over again. Clerics and MM can also fit in this category if they use SPITE or Shear.

3 - Specific matchups:

• vs Ranger -- don't move rooms, or you reset Ranger SK cooldown
• vs Forsaken -- use mindshout or Tremor to disable critters, use rush to land your debil and then use weapon attacks. 99% they will have WORM setup to block magic from ranged, not melee.
• vs Paladin -- cast Sorrow first, wait for first bolt to get blocked by paladin's SP, then you can debil. If you're against someone with max armor (aka Warb), you have to use either PD or Bonegrinder
• vs Barbarian -- cast Sorrow first to trigger Swan, then debil. Or use a bubble wand.
• vs Empath -- you need to rend IC otherwise they're impossible to kill. If you can't rend, use HoT.

Stage 2 - Buffing

"ABB: Always Be Buffing" -Illiya

1 - Prediction pools - predict buff your sorcery, TM and tactics at the minimum. You'll also want the option available to curse enemy HT, shield and evasion. RTR is critical.

2 - Native spells - BC + DC for predicts. AUS + Shadowling for mana. IOTS (Int/Disc), SEER, TKSH, MAF, PSY, CV, Shadows, RF, WD. SCO if using Bonegrinder (and maybe PD).

3 - Runestones - Axinite (GG) for wisdom and Lay Ward.

4 - Scrolled - IP is must have. HoT is a great second choice, for opponents you can't rend. Tremor is also top tier, but very difficult to cast and can give bad sorcery backlash.

5 - Unleash - SAP (Augmentation), RAGE, AS/Awaken, AD, SUF/Centering, SR, EY are critical. (You can replace SAP and SR with predict buffs). Note: SAP, AS, SUF and EY are castable on others. (AS is only 5 min if casted on other). For stats: SW/SoTT, GoL, and Finesse are important. For debils: REPR, Courage, NON, Tranquility.

6 - Teammate buffs - For stats: Ask for MEF/TURI, Vigor, SoTT/SW, DIG/WotP, and HES. For skills: ask for Instinct/SW, and EM. For misc: VOI.

As you can see, this is a lot of buffs. It takes me around 10min to buff. It's rough. Gyre helps save a lot of time.

Be aware that certain spells only last 10min, like WD, AS, Awaken, and LW. Save these spells for right before the fight starts.

Yes, always use AD for your cyclic. Unless you like being Ice Patched for 25 seconds. Everyone and their mom has IP, IP wands, IP tattoos. It's literally the best CC spell in the game. Which makes AD obligatory.

Stage 3 - Defense

"Oops I forgot to put on my armor" -everyone

1 - Armor - I personally believe stealth is too important for moonmages, so I always recommend going Leather. Shadowleaf, Punka and Corrugated are best. Do not clownsuit. Make sure armor is repaired. Make sure you're wearing it.

2 - Stance - if you have SR up, you can stance 100% evasion, 2% parry, 100% shield. Don't forget to adjust your stance!

3 - Shield - tertiary armor means we have to wear small shields. Diamondhide/shadowleaf, octagonal shield are best. Triangular agonite sipar, demonscale blasted plains are good too. If possible, keep your shield held in your left hand, as wearing the shield reduces its defense by 20%.

4 - Balance - if you're wondering why you can't hit anybody and everyone's hitting you, it's probably cuz of your balance. When you're stunned/proned, your balance gets tanked to very badly, and likely you'll see "Opponent is overwhelming you". This is why landing debils is crucial, and why balance healing spells like AD, SUF and Centering are also crucial. This is why winning the debil contest usually means winning the match.

5 - Wounds - head and eye wounds prevent searching. Head wounds also prevent using wands. Leg, arm and nerve damage penalize stealth. Nerve damage also penalizes defense and magic skill. Use herbs, they help.

Stage 4 - Offense

"I think you got 50% vitality on a Sorrow cast that first fight" -Malkien

1 - TM Focus - get an Accuracy one. Make sure you invoke it in your right hand, it's a 16-20 sec RT. The TM focus bonus goes away if you swap hands, stow it, drop it, or lower it. If you do any physical attack like punch, maneuver rush, it also goes away. But Tactics are okay to use, like grapple, sweep or shove.

2 - RAGE - have it up, or Sorrow won't hit.

3 - Mana - always put max mana into all your spells, or you'll hit like a wet noodle. (i.e. prep Sorrow 100)

4 - TM skill - make sure you buffed it by predict or SUB (or both!)

5 - Prep times - Sorrow gets no benefit from full prep, so cast it at the half-way point. Debils also get no benefit from full prep, but how quickly you can cast it depends on the spell difficulty. Burn is so accurate that you can also cast it at the half-way point, it doesn't need the full prep accuracy bonus. But don't use Burn, it sucks.

6 - Toggle AOE - set it to nongroup, or engaged if you want to be extra careful for your teammates sake. If you go AOE Engaged, be aware that WD auto disengages you, and make sure you have an "advance all enemies" script ready.

7 - Be mentally ready to abandon TM and use weapons against anti-magic matchups. Nothing worse than freezing in the middle of a fight cuz you can't mentally switch gears.

Stage 5 - MM Battle Spells & Tactics

"I always get thrown off by Shear" -Warbrolus

1 - Sorrow - since it's a non-target TM, you can full prep it before the fight starts and immediately cast it on sight. It is an extremely low accuracy spell, so make sure you have TM accuracy, RAGE, and TM skill buffs up. Also make sure you have balance advantage. Read the wiki on the spell, learn how it works, it's got a lot of weird things about it. This is our bread and butter spell, use it by default.

2 - PD - this underappreciated spell has 2 things going for it: it's body-part targetable, and it's armor piercing. Always target the head (i.e. prep pd 50, then target warbrolus head). Use it on your favorite paladin. Combo it with Sorrow and watch heads explode since they both do Internal Wound damage, and you're targeting the head with both these spells. You will likely need to full prep PD or it won't hit.

3 - Bonegrinder - I have mixed feelings about this spell. On the one hand, with SCO, you have roughly a 1 in 8 chance of killing anybody in 5 seconds. On the other hand, you have a 1 in 6 chance of getting a t2 backlash (blowing off arms, nerve damage, or magic skill debuff). I stay away from this spell because it seems unfun to win with it. Use at your own risk. Be aware that having SCO up prevents you from predicting.

4 - Shear - always use with LW. Most effective when used in the middle of the fight. I guarantee you if you leave a room and the opponent chases you, they will be tunnel visioning on casting Deadfall/Ice Patch on you, and the last thing they're expecting is a Shear waiting for them. Surprise!

5 - Moonblade - this spell right here is what gives MM the advantage over other spell casters, albeit only briefly. Having the ability to cast Sorrow and then immediately follow up with an instant Mindshout or Ice Patch is huge. It also allows you to perform a Dazzle Rend combo, stripping their wards. Do not neglect this spell, make sure all 3 nodes are locked and loaded before the fight. Warning: this spell will require scripts or macros to work effectively. (Imagine typing prep rend 100, cast balistrade in less than 1 second?)

Stage 6 - Stats

"Who would intentionally tank their stats for an edge in the arena? I'm shocked, just shocked!" -Avrenka

Whoever wins the debilitation contest, wins the fight. So let's figure out how to land our debils and avoid our enemy's debils.

Warning: lots of math ahead.

First, read this: Category:Contested abilities

Ok. So here's an example:

You're casting a full mana Rend on a enemy -- the game takes your Int (x4) + Disc (x2) + Wis, times 1.2 for max mana potency vs enemy's Disc (x4) + Wis (x2) + Int. If the enemy has EY (they should), their defense gets multiplied 1.2. And then PSY and REPR both block about 160pts each. Let's say both of you have 130 int, 130 wis, 120 disc. Your Rend is (520 + 240 + 130) * 1.2 = 1,068 vs their (480 + 260 + 130) * 1.2 = 1,044 + 320 of shields = 1,364 defense. Your Rend whiffs, but their EY ablates slightly down to 18%, and their PSY/REPR shields ablates by 24 pts down to 296. Rough, you're never getting thru.

But here's a little trick, if the enemy is stunned, it lowers their Will defense by 20%. And if they have full nerve damage, that's another 7% penalty to Will. Maybe your Warrior Mage teammate gives them nerve damage with EE and stuns them with Arc Light. Suddenly their 1,044 defense plummets to 762 + 320 shields = 1,082. Your Rend almost completely erodes their PSY & REPR, clearing the way for your next Rend to maybe land.

One more thing. There's a sliding scale to success. 0% attacker's advantage nets ~20% success rate. 5% advantage nets 100% success rate. With spells that have a range of success, you get minimal success at 5%, with maximal success around 40% advantage. So if you've got 5% advantage, you're better off casting Rend than MB since Rend will always strip 2 buffs whether you've succeeded minimally or maximally, but barely succeeding with MB will only give minor nerve damage.

So. Generally speaking if you want to land your Rend/MB, you gotta pump up your Int, Disc and Wis in that order. But everyone's gonna have PSY and REPR up, and if everyone pumps their mental stats too, the only way you're gonna land your Rend/MB is if the enemy is stunned, and even then you probably have to do it twice. That's really tough, since AS/Awaken takes stun away in 1-3 seconds. So good luck with that. (This is why simply using HoT to strip wards is the more reliably method!)

So if you can't land Rend/MB then what? Ice Patch, which is Magic (Wis/Int/Disc) vs Reflex (Ref/Agi/Int). If their mentals are pumped, their physicals are left wanting. Bam, they get immobilized for 15 seconds. But oh wait, everyone runs AD which pulses every 1-7 seconds. Still, that's a decent amount of time, and their balance is tanked. Or you simply use Dazzle, which is Magic vs Fortitude (Stam/Disc/Str), and again their physical stats can't keep up with your mentals, and they get stunned. It might be only for 1-3 seconds, but their balance is tanked and there's a chance they lose their prepped spell. Or hey, you use CotW or ANC (Magic vs Fort spells) to lower their defenses/evasion.

Explore the game's debils, figure out the contests you can win, and stat accordingly. I personally recommend going full mentals and dump everything else. If you can't land Mind debils, at least you can still land Magic debils.

That's all folks. Thanks for reading my crappy guide.

Disclaimer: this is how I pvp right now. I'm constantly experimenting and learning new things every week. This is just what I learned. Feel free to ignore and do your own thing!