Starlear's Warrior Mage spell recommendations: Difference between revisions
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==Beginner's Warrior Mage Guide== |
==Beginner's Warrior Mage Guide== |
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Updated for DR 3.0 By Starlear, 9/2013 |
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So you want to be a Warrior Mage? Awesome. It's a pretty diverse and rewarding guild to play, and there's lots of viable ways to do it. Additionally, I personally feel that the flavor added by committing your character to an element, and having a familiar both add roleplay opportunities that are hard to match in other guilds. There's a lot to like here and I hope you enjoy it. |
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So you've decided to become a Warmie. The path towards ultimate destructive power is before you. But first you need to pay your dues, this isn't the Barbarian guild. |
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Let's start with some basics things. |
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==Race== |
==Race== |
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Warrior mage abilities make use of all the [[Attributes]]. |
Warrior mage abilities make use of all the [[Attributes]]. In DR 3.0, ALL of the stats are important to us to some degree, with Charisma being the LEAST important. The reasoning for this is that Charisma as a stat, while useful in that it gives you additional spirit help, better prices from certain vendors, and influences how often your [[familiar]] will drag you out of danger in combat, is only an influential stat in one of our [[contested spells]] - [[Mark of Arhat]], which as of 3.0 is a Charm [[contested spell|contested spells]]. Keep this in mind when choosing a [[:Category:Races|race]] if you're trying to min-max, and choose a race where the stats you want to favor are easier to train. |
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Keep this in mind when picturing what kind of mage you want to be - do you want to be a two-handed weapon swinging mage? You will be using a lot of strength and stamina. Slash and dash fencer? Lots of agility and reflex. ALL mages will make heavy use of all three mental stats, and Stamina is going to be important to you no matter what in combat. Ultimately, the most important choice is picking a race you feel comfortable roleplaying. |
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==Equipment== |
==Equipment== |
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Most Warrior Mages tend to favor [[Chain Armor skill|Chain]] Armor. It offers good protection and absorption without the huge maneuvering penalties associated with heavier armors. As stealth is not something our guild focuses on regularly, it is uncommon to see Warrior Mages wearing [[Light Armor skill|Light Armor]] but for those that wish to try and pursue stealth, it can be an option - however, you can hide nearly as well in a well-made set of chain as you can in leather, and contrary to popular belief, a full set of leather can indeed be more hindering than a full set of chain. [[Brigandine Armor skill|Brigandine]] and [[Plate Armor skill|Plate]] are both much heavier, and more protective, but as a guild with armor as its Tertiary skillset, it is generally more trouble than it's worth to pick these heavier armors, as we will have a hard time avoiding blows in them. |
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Warrior Mages get no armor bonuses. So the best set of armour for us is [[Light Chain skill|Light Chain]]. If you don't have rich friends then getting a full set of light chain can be a bit hard. But at least wear some cheap chain accessories until you can afford to ditch the [[Leather Armor skill|leathers]] so you can train it. |
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Weapons generally come down to personal preference, and you can make pretty much anything work. For a new character, swing roundtime and [[Fatigue]] will be at a premium, so you should look up your local forger and see about getting a nice lightened weapon made. Regardless of the weapon's type (that is, the skill it trains when you use it), a lightened weapon will be easier to swing more quickly, be more balanced and therefore more accurate, and be less tiring. |
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For weapons the usual rule of thumb is you want at least 1 primary melee and 1 primary ranged. The most popular melee's for obvious reasons are the [[Medium Edged skill]] or the [[Heavy Edged skill]]. Since you can get 21 stone heavy edge swords and still have the option of going for heavy great slice heavy edges, i would consider it a better choice. But if you want to ignore your [[Strength]] and [[Stamina]] stats for a while then getting ME can be worth it. |
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I recommend that you train at least one ranged weapon in addition to any melee weapons you pick. While a lot of your damage will be done with spells, it's always good to have options for when spells are not a viable choice. |
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For ranged, I find it hard to argue against the [[Short Bow skill]]. It doesn't pack the same punch as other ranged, but a [[El Bain's Stop|Nisha Short Bow]] can be loaded in 1 second and fired in 1 second. If you're fast, you can machine gun a lot of arrows. I've found it to be by far the easiest weapon skill to learn. |
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==Spells Choices== |
==Spells Choices== |
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See [[:Category:Warrior Mage Spells|Warrior Mage Spells]] for full listing of spells. |
See [[:Category:Warrior Mage Spells|Warrior Mage Spells]] for full listing of spells. |
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Warrior Mages have a variety of spells available to them, and all of them have their niches that they are useful in. There are in my opinion a few must-have spells, which I will cover in detail. Beyond that, I'll give a brief summary of a spell, and give it a rating (which you should remember is my personal opinion and you may disagree with, so don't write something off just because I don't like it) of * to ***** and explain why I feel that way. |
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There are some spells you really need, and some spells that do basically the same thing as other spells. To save spells slots, it's best to stay focused on what you need. Aim to get these spells in the order that suit you. |
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==The Essentials== |
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*Note: I consider a lot more spells than this crucial to our arsenal - however, this is a Beginner's Guide, and as such I am only including the spells that are MOST USEFUL to a brand new Warrior Mage here. I consider the following spells essential both for the boost in survival they provide to someone who may not have a solid grasp on how to train effectively, and the ease with which they can be cast. Additionally, for this guide, I am only including spells in our guild's spellbook. |
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Increases your Reflex and Evasion skill. This will help keep you alive in combat. |
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Increases your chance to hit with ranged attacks. Fantastic for when you're training a ranged weapon (You ARE training a ranged weapon, right?). Follows the caster room to room. |
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Increases balance and parry skill. This will help keep you alive in combat if you are using a weapon capable of parrying or a parry stick. |
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'''[[Ethereal Shield]] (ES): Prerequisite: Any Intro TM spell.''' |
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Reduces elemental damage taken, easy to train Warding with. Use when fighting other mages or creatures that use spells, and it will help significantly. |
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'''[[Ice Patch]] (IP): Prerequisite: [[Geyser]] or [[Elementalism]].''' |
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Basic disabler spell. Will knock down and stun the target when successful. Very good for getting hits in on things you have a hard time hitting. |
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'''[[Air Lash]] (ALA): Prerequisite: None.''' |
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A whip of air that damages the target. |
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Pro: Cool messaging. Easy to cast. Fairly accurate. |
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=== Buffs=== |
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Con: Damage is purely physical (Puncture and Slice). Shield-blockable. Single-strike. |
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Rating: *** - Basic single-strike spell for physical damage. Decent accuracy and damage. |
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Increases your evasion and parry skill a lot for the amount of mana it takes. Can make you feel like superman fighting 10 circles above your head. Just watch it doesn't run out at melee. |
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Blasts of electricity that damage the target. Think taser-hands. |
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'''[[Y'ntrel Sechra]] (YS): Prerequisites: 20th circle, Swirling Winds.''' |
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Pro: Deals Electric, Fire, and Puncture damage. Easy to cast. Hard to miss with. Multi-strike. |
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With each cast your armor gets less and less hindering up to a cap. So you can decide how fast or slow your pack the air in depending on mana levels. Especially useful if you want to backtrain some armor, but even with your primary light chain you will get a very big combat bonus from having full YS on. |
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Con: Damage and messaging are not particularly impressive, making the spell "feel" less cool. Shield-blockable. |
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Rating: **** - The multiple strikes make this a solid TM trainer, even though each individual strike will be less damaging than a comparable single-strike spell. |
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'''[[Geyser]] (GEYSER): Prerequisite: None.''' |
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Increased balance, agility, and reflexes of anyone its cast on. The agility can sometimes reduce roundtimes on your weapons. Very low minimum prep. Very easy to put 60 mana into. Always cast this before using tremor. |
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A jet of scalding water erupts from the ground, and you direct it with your will at a target. |
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===Targeted Magic Trainer=== |
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Pro: Deals Impact and Fire damage. Fairly Accurate. Cool Messaging. |
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Con: Shield-blockable. Single-strike. |
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Rating: *** - Single-strike spell with good damage types - impact is difficult to defend against for most things. |
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Snap casted at minimum prep. 2-3 tendrils per cast from the very beginning. Smokes TM like no others. |
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'''[[Stone Strike]] (STS): Prerequisite: None.''' |
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Shoot a boulder at your target, which explodes into rock-shrapnel and showers into them. Think stone-shotgun. |
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Pro: Deals Impact and Puncture damage. Lodges lots of little stone shards in the target, which pulse additional damage periodically and increase wound severity until they are tended out using [[First Aid]]. Multi-strike. |
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'''[[Frostbite]] (FRB):''' |
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Con: Purely physical damage. Messaging unimpressive. Shield-blockable. |
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Rating: **** - The lodged shards really make this a good choice for damage-per-mana, and the multi-strikes make it a solid TM trainer. |
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Risks hurting your own fatigue if you don't know what to prep it at with es on. But with some practice can be very useful, especially for getting unseen enemies. |
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'''[[ |
'''[[Fire Shards]] (FS): Prerequisite: None.''' |
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Shoot multiple shards of flame at your target. |
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One of the most useful spells in the game. It's very hard to avoid falling on an ice patch, this spell let's you whale hunt things way above your level. Match it with some naphtha and dragons breath for one toasty whale. |
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Pro: Deals Fire, Impact, and Puncture damage. Multi-strike. Solid damage. |
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Con: Shield-blockable. Harder than other spells to get the multiple-strike effect. |
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Rating: **** - Excellent damage with some cool messaging. |
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Useful when traveling through dangerous high tier hunting areas. Or in sparing. But its main use is for primary magic training. As a third tier spell you can cast over and over again with a min prep of 7 mana, this thing smokes PM like only MoF can compete with. But MoF doesent lead to anything useful so get this one. all you have to do is cast a small targeted spell at a critter or even a person to shatter the veil of ice then you can cast a new one and learn fully from it. |
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'''[[Fortress of Ice]] (FOI): Prerequisites: 30th circle, Veil of Ice.''' |
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........more to come soon! |
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Ever wished you could trap 2 critters who teach you great in a box and dance with them for hours without the risk of a third one coming in and chopping your head off? Voila. The benefits afforded by the spell outpace any other. As warrior mages we struggle very hard to keep our defenses up with our offenses base requirements. This spell lets you safely and quickly train them back up. You can also murder people in town with this spell without being arrested |
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{{cat|Warrior Mage, Warrior Mage Abilities}} |
{{cat|Warrior Mage, Warrior Mage Abilities}} |
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Revision as of 03:34, 16 September 2013
Beginner's Warrior Mage Guide
Updated for DR 3.0 By Starlear, 9/2013
So you want to be a Warrior Mage? Awesome. It's a pretty diverse and rewarding guild to play, and there's lots of viable ways to do it. Additionally, I personally feel that the flavor added by committing your character to an element, and having a familiar both add roleplay opportunities that are hard to match in other guilds. There's a lot to like here and I hope you enjoy it.
Let's start with some basics things.
Race
Warrior mage abilities make use of all the Attributes. In DR 3.0, ALL of the stats are important to us to some degree, with Charisma being the LEAST important. The reasoning for this is that Charisma as a stat, while useful in that it gives you additional spirit help, better prices from certain vendors, and influences how often your familiar will drag you out of danger in combat, is only an influential stat in one of our contested spells - Mark of Arhat, which as of 3.0 is a Charm contested spells. Keep this in mind when choosing a race if you're trying to min-max, and choose a race where the stats you want to favor are easier to train.
Keep this in mind when picturing what kind of mage you want to be - do you want to be a two-handed weapon swinging mage? You will be using a lot of strength and stamina. Slash and dash fencer? Lots of agility and reflex. ALL mages will make heavy use of all three mental stats, and Stamina is going to be important to you no matter what in combat. Ultimately, the most important choice is picking a race you feel comfortable roleplaying.
Equipment
Most Warrior Mages tend to favor Chain Armor. It offers good protection and absorption without the huge maneuvering penalties associated with heavier armors. As stealth is not something our guild focuses on regularly, it is uncommon to see Warrior Mages wearing Light Armor but for those that wish to try and pursue stealth, it can be an option - however, you can hide nearly as well in a well-made set of chain as you can in leather, and contrary to popular belief, a full set of leather can indeed be more hindering than a full set of chain. Brigandine and Plate are both much heavier, and more protective, but as a guild with armor as its Tertiary skillset, it is generally more trouble than it's worth to pick these heavier armors, as we will have a hard time avoiding blows in them.
Weapons generally come down to personal preference, and you can make pretty much anything work. For a new character, swing roundtime and Fatigue will be at a premium, so you should look up your local forger and see about getting a nice lightened weapon made. Regardless of the weapon's type (that is, the skill it trains when you use it), a lightened weapon will be easier to swing more quickly, be more balanced and therefore more accurate, and be less tiring.
I recommend that you train at least one ranged weapon in addition to any melee weapons you pick. While a lot of your damage will be done with spells, it's always good to have options for when spells are not a viable choice.
Spells Choices
See Warrior Mage Spells for full listing of spells.
Warrior Mages have a variety of spells available to them, and all of them have their niches that they are useful in. There are in my opinion a few must-have spells, which I will cover in detail. Beyond that, I'll give a brief summary of a spell, and give it a rating (which you should remember is my personal opinion and you may disagree with, so don't write something off just because I don't like it) of * to ***** and explain why I feel that way.
The Essentials
- Note: I consider a lot more spells than this crucial to our arsenal - however, this is a Beginner's Guide, and as such I am only including the spells that are MOST USEFUL to a brand new Warrior Mage here. I consider the following spells essential both for the boost in survival they provide to someone who may not have a solid grasp on how to train effectively, and the ease with which they can be cast. Additionally, for this guide, I am only including spells in our guild's spellbook.
Swirling Winds (SW): Prerequisites: Zephyr or Tailwind.
Increases your Reflex and Evasion skill. This will help keep you alive in combat.
Tailwind (TW): Prerequisites: Air Lash or Elementalism.
Increases your chance to hit with ranged attacks. Fantastic for when you're training a ranged weapon (You ARE training a ranged weapon, right?). Follows the caster room to room.
Sure Footing (SUF): Prerequisite: Stone Strike or Elementalism
Increases balance and parry skill. This will help keep you alive in combat if you are using a weapon capable of parrying or a parry stick.
Ethereal Shield (ES): Prerequisite: Any Intro TM spell.
Reduces elemental damage taken, easy to train Warding with. Use when fighting other mages or creatures that use spells, and it will help significantly.
Ice Patch (IP): Prerequisite: Geyser or Elementalism.
Basic disabler spell. Will knock down and stun the target when successful. Very good for getting hits in on things you have a hard time hitting.
Damaging Spells
Air Lash (ALA): Prerequisite: None.
A whip of air that damages the target.
Pro: Cool messaging. Easy to cast. Fairly accurate. Con: Damage is purely physical (Puncture and Slice). Shield-blockable. Single-strike.
Rating: *** - Basic single-strike spell for physical damage. Decent accuracy and damage.
Gar Zeng (GZ): Prerequisite: None.
Blasts of electricity that damage the target. Think taser-hands.
Pro: Deals Electric, Fire, and Puncture damage. Easy to cast. Hard to miss with. Multi-strike. Con: Damage and messaging are not particularly impressive, making the spell "feel" less cool. Shield-blockable.
Rating: **** - The multiple strikes make this a solid TM trainer, even though each individual strike will be less damaging than a comparable single-strike spell.
Geyser (GEYSER): Prerequisite: None.
A jet of scalding water erupts from the ground, and you direct it with your will at a target.
Pro: Deals Impact and Fire damage. Fairly Accurate. Cool Messaging. Con: Shield-blockable. Single-strike.
Rating: *** - Single-strike spell with good damage types - impact is difficult to defend against for most things.
Stone Strike (STS): Prerequisite: None.
Shoot a boulder at your target, which explodes into rock-shrapnel and showers into them. Think stone-shotgun.
Pro: Deals Impact and Puncture damage. Lodges lots of little stone shards in the target, which pulse additional damage periodically and increase wound severity until they are tended out using First Aid. Multi-strike. Con: Purely physical damage. Messaging unimpressive. Shield-blockable.
Rating: **** - The lodged shards really make this a good choice for damage-per-mana, and the multi-strikes make it a solid TM trainer.
Fire Shards (FS): Prerequisite: None.
Shoot multiple shards of flame at your target.
Pro: Deals Fire, Impact, and Puncture damage. Multi-strike. Solid damage. Con: Shield-blockable. Harder than other spells to get the multiple-strike effect.
Rating: **** - Excellent damage with some cool messaging.
........more to come soon!