Joining up Hopefully I fare better with this month's play along, than I did with FFI. The endless pushover random encounters were too much for me after a point, and I gave up. This time around meet Bob, elf mage extrodinaire. Curious what makes for good stats on a mage. Shaun mentioned endurance, agility, & spirit in his original post, but isn't intellect the stat that powers the spells? I thought I saw someone say they put all their bumps into intellect for a glass cannon mage build.
Welcome! That GCM would be me. Basically I ignore stat management (all in for int) and just focus on skill management. This only works for the mage class in this game. You have to watch how much energy you have so you can't advance you're skills too fast or you'll run out (especially in early days). Even after I've reached level 30, I still have points I haven't used on skills. You can use/make potions, but they cost in money and time. Once you get to Callaheim you can learn fishing recipes (and get a better fishing rod) and get free low level energy potions per every 3 fish (and no need to buy empty vials). Requires finding fishing spots and cooking fire spots to process the fish. Also, later on you'll start finding runes to add stats/health/energy (+1-4 for stats) which you can add one to each piece of gear. Then can add endurance and spirit that have been lacking previously. Even if an item already has default enhancements, you can add a rune. Good luck.
Some great tips here for yet another elf mage newbie - thanks, guys. Just got to Callaheim, but working my way through the buildings. Actually not reached the guilds yet. I'm also playing on normal, and not only have I died a few times, my carelessness has also caused the death of the mercenary Greyblade. Poor fellow.
Forgot to mention that once you reach around level 30 for a Mage you should be strong enough to hunt the Vampire (level 35) in the "old tunnels" below the sewers. (Other classes will need to be higher.) Harvesting him multiple times will give runes up to +4 stats (I usually ignore the +health and +energy ones), rings (I like the +4 end ones with a +4 end rune added for a total of +8 end - very nice), as well as some staffs that you can't acquire normally. To refresh you'll need to exit and re-enter the level again and again (I usually use the one leading to the queens burial chamber). Can be tedious, but worth it for the loot.
Thanks for the detailed reply abbad0n. Looks like a fun build, I can't wait to dig in and start working it.
Down underneath the sewers (forgotten tunnels where the giant rats are) under Callaheim. Random drop when killing the Vampire (since it's an undead of course you can come back and kill again, and again, and again, ...). High level (35) so you'll have to wait until you're strong enough.
So apparently the tattoos covering my character's face are "memento" style reminders. Translated from the Elvish script they read "Caution! Save often!", and "No, seriously, save more often than that!" Notable deaths so far: Greatly overestimated the awesome of my fireballs & was devoured by a pack of asbestos wolves Picked a fight with an unarmed, homeless bandit only to have him put up his dukes & beat me to death Ran through by my ally Jarvis after I accidentallly fireballed him Surrounded & butchered at the bandit camp after my pet & mercenary ran off after a deer This game is awesome!
That's hilarious. As a suggestion, if the pet runs off or falls of a bridge etc. try summoning it again to recover it. Doesn't work on mercenaries unfortunately.
One thing I noticed about the game was how silky smooth the controls were. Moving your character and camera around feels right. Something a lot of mobile games can't seem to do. The only thing that I have found a bit finicky so far is trying to select a corpse to loot it if something else select-able is very close. Well that and the fact that my companion Greyblade keeps getting lost when I need him the most. Oh and on a fun note is it me or is it almost insulting to be in a fight with a mob only to hear a sound effect like you just got pimp slapped? LOL!
All this Mage talk kind of makes me want to try one out. I'm only level 9 but the ranger is starting to get a little dry already
In the early morning hours of Day 9 Krötenbändiger disembarked the ship that had carried him from Taryn Ridge to the port of Callaheim. A short walk led him to some square in the center of the town which --- despite the early hour --- was busy with pedestrians. There he stand for quite a while, gawking at the splendid houses of Callaheim, a sight the former village boy could not have imagined. Note the fashionable Balanced Greatsword with a power value of 44!
I am really enjoying the mage build. I made a battle mage with IAP. I didn't want to make a broken charachter so I still skimped on Endurance (using endurance gear to help that stat). For every 3 intelligence I place 1 point into strength. On top of that I will add a point into endurance whenever needed. Works great! What I did was purchased a couple strength runes from the store and got a decent strength. That way I had a head start for a battlemage that can use his staff for the more mindless encounters. I like it, and it adds a little variety to the spell casting. The Developer definitely deserved the donation. My tip: get shockwave skill as soon as you can. It was a little tough going while I pumped skill points into the air armor skill, but once I got the shockwave skill fights became much easier.
No one ever talks about the greatness of the Dazzle spell. Until it's too late of course. Combo of "Armor of Air" to add defence to oneself, "Dazzle" to lower your opponents attack and defense, and "Shockwave" to stun a group of enemies, can be very helpful in battle. However I've never found the ice spell magic branch to be useful. But maybe it's due to my play style. Note: I only start using "Shockwave" spell later in the game due to spell costs going up. Max level "Fire Blast" cost quite a lot even though it is the max damage dealer a Mage can use. That's why my GCM build puts every point into Intellect. Makes continuous rolling magic attacks possible.
I am so lost in this temple looking for the Scepter. I was ok until I got to 3rd floor. I've been leaving skeletons behind like bread crumbs.
Yeah, the 3rd floor is confusing even if you've done it multiple times. Also, it's annoying that you run out of space for drops in your inventory. Every time I have to stop and figure out which item is lower amount of gold to drop, so I can sell the higher when I get back to town. Sigh. So much lost wealth.
I've gotten good use out of the cold spells so far. Ice fist is nice for the cheap stun & knockback. Alternating between ice bolt & fire blast effectively doubles my rate of fire, and it's longer range makes it easier to engage an enemy without accidentally aggroing his neighbors.
I'm with you on the ice bolt. It's long range makes it a very handy first strike to isolate a single enemy, then I can pelt my target with fire once it gets bit nearer. If it gets too near, an ice fist can blast it back. That said, I'd now happily take back the points I put in ice and get a bit nearer to filling out the air-based moves. Or the dazzle - think that might be quite useful. One thing I'm finding interesting is how much of a gate the levelling is. Taking on an enemy just a few levels above you can be a real battle. My level 13/14 mage had to work very hard to beat a level 16 spirit warrior.
