Board :Mages
Author :Mage Tutor Ataraxic
Subject :The art of playing a mage
Date :8/16

The art of Playing a Mage.

The mage is one of the most unique paths of the four. It is truly the path known for soloing throughout the game. A mage's job in the game is to help fighters and rogues by healing them (if no poet) and/or freezing monsters with paralyse, blind, sleep and also to vex (again, if no poet in group) the monster which makes them easier to hit, and to venom them, which is poisoning.

One of the big things for a mage to know, if you hunt with someone else they will forget you have almost no vitality compared to them, and tend to get you killed a lot. Therefore, there will be times when it's either they die or you die, at which time you should be hitting the return spell or using a yellow scroll to leave. It is NOT the mages job to take care of the party, as a lot of fighters and rogues believe. It is the party's job to take care of each other. When it comes to death though, don't die if you can help it, it costs a lot of experience.

When hunting on your own, which only a mage can really do at lower levels, you have to learn to hunt like a mage. This means finding a place where only one creature can attack you at a time, or a place where you can attack them over a wall and they can't get to you. The main motto for a mage is to avoid direct contact at all costs. This will change when you get to level 99 and convert all your experience to stat points, but until then be a mage, you don't have the vita to be a fighter.

The mage, in the hands of a skilled player, can be a deadly character. With unbelievably devastating ranged spells; the mage can kill hordes of advancing creatures before they ever get close enough to strike. The mage also has the ability to affect monsters in more ways than any other character. In the later levels, a mage receives the blind spell (stops a monster from moving), the paralyze spell (stops a monster from attacking), and the venom spell (slowly eats away at a monsters health). This trio of spells coupled with powerful lightning attacks makes the mage a formidable foe and a necessary hunting partner. A mage generally will hunt alone for most levels, or will group with another mage or a fighter.

Advantages
-Most damaging ranged spells in the game. The mage can do more damage to a foe from long range than all three other Paths combined.
-Mages have the ability to affect creatures more than any other class. With spells like Blind, Paralyze, Venom and Confuse (makes an enemy attack one of his own cousins), the mage can control the fighting conditions better than the other Paths,
-Mages get more mana per level than any other Path. The extra mana allows a mage to fight for longer periods of time without having to worry about the replenishment of mana.

Disadvantages
-Mages get the least hit points of any Path. Although they excel at ranged combat, once an enemy closes the distance the mage can be in serious trouble.
-Many of the best spells are only obtained in the last few levels before mastery, forcing a mage to play through many long difficult levels. A mage also needs more experience per level than any other Path.
-Although powerful, a mage's ranged attacks can never truly match the damage of a similar level warrior or rogue's weapon attacks.

Nussan