I made this FAQ to give people a better understanding of the general & big picture of magicians in 3rd job, so people who like to plan ahead can have access to the following useful information. I try my best to give only answers relevant to 3rd job or the future for a magician generally, and provide some pointers about what are perhaps skills that most people prefer and generally are more succesful in their mage career. I know many of you have been waiting for this~ so here it is~

I guess the main motivation for me in writing this (besides just out of pure boredom in my college) is probably due to the fact that I believe most people have generally a very unclear picture or bad understanding in 3rd job magicians. Looking back now these were some of the questions that I had asked very long time ago with little feedback (or answers that aren't solid or sure). Here I am giving every possible effort in capturing what it's like to be a mage in 3rd job~ So please enjoy ^^.



General Magician class questions:

1) Max magic guard?
For those who didn't max it, quit now before you regret. Mages generally suck at HP, and even with maxed MG there are still monsters that can take you out easily. MG is also absolutely essential in fighting at jakum party.

2) Elemental Resistance & Partial Resistance, how do they work?
They reduce magic damage by the % given, like the cleric's invincible skill from 2nd job. There are some bugs with ER, or was it intentional~ Level 1 ER lets a priest take 0 damage from many variety of magic attacks in the game, f/p mages have the same property on fire/poison attacks, while I/L resistance have this on I/L spells. However this bug is no gurrantee, and you want to max this skill (for priests) at jakum anyway. For example, if you kill the monster as you take the damage hit, you will receive the normal damage - the reduction from your resistance skill.

3) Max Teleport? How useful is it by 3rd job or in the future generally?
Much better than some of the other skills for mages. You ought to be using this nearly 20 times per minute if not more when you train on higher level mobs (the maps get much bigger later on), and that is alot of MP saved. Especially at maxed level, teleport gives the extra distance that lets you travel to many platforms vertically (whereareas unmaxed teleport cannot reach). It is a very very useful skill, a skill that many other jobs want to have. Money will become a problem as you get higher level, you might not use it now, but you will be using it 24/7 by 3rd job. Make sure you max this skill, every high level mage will tell you the same thing.

4) Max MP Eater? Does it work with all 3rd job skills?
Get this ASAP. It is the skill every other job want to have~ Maxing this skill saves countless number of pots. In fact, if you go to places where magic guard isn't necessary (jr yeti, zombies, dark unicorn, etc) MP eater will let you train without use of a single mana pot. This is one of the best and most important skills for all magicians. MP Eater works with all magic spells that do damage to enemies, this includes 3rd job skills.

5) How are the ranges of 3rd job skills? I seen in pictures/videos that some skills range are quite small~
Actually they have quite some range, but only at maxed level. The difference is very big from a low level spell compared to when it's maxed. Fire Explosion/Ice strike have a radius almost double that of the Lightning Bolt skill (2nd job I/L wizard skill). Dispel, HS & ray also have very good range. Thunder spear travels quite far, the range is the same compared to an assasin's with their range maxed.

6) Seal useful? Does it work on bosses? Does it stack with Slow?
This is a very useful skill, especially on higher level mobs~ All the monsters will use magic attack on you (yeti & pepe, lycans, firebull, pirate boats, jokers, clock carriers, vikings, master vikings, etc). Sealing the monsters makes them sitting ducks who cannot do anything but physically come closer to you. In other words, it reduced their damage sigficantly as well as disabling their ranged attacks. Seal not only disables a monster's magic ability, it disables all abilities including attacks such as yeti's stomp, or lycan's physical claw. At maxed level Seal has a 95% success rate. It dosen't work on bosses but it does stack with slow.

7) Magic Booster.
Speed is unfortunately not very noticable until you get booster to level 11, where the speed is boosted by 2. It helps you train faster? Yes. But the benefit is probably not as great compared to maxing magic amp. Just make sure you get booster to level 11 minimum. Remember priests don't have booster.

8) Magic Amp.
This is an essential skill. The extra damage you get from it is highly noticable. This is the main power up for mages, especially since magic damage in this game is mostly based on the magic base damage; magic amp increases that %. However it doubles your MP cost, so you might not want to max it too early (but do try to get it early). People usually max it after maxing composition. The damage from magic amp for the MP is well worth it (in fact your damage will look very weak if you don't max this early). Remember priests don't have magic amp, this alone makes priests very very weak relative to other mages. (they aren't meant for fighting anyway).

9) How good is Slow for wizards? Does it work on bosses?
It's not too bad of a skill. F/P wizards should max this skill over Poison Brace without question, however I/L mages probably have to think over about Lightning Bolt vs Slow. Slow isn't as practical as Lightning Bolt however Lightning Bolt becomes useless at very higher levels (as you get ice strike) but slow remains a semi useful skill. Do not choose slow over essentail skills such as teleport/MP eater, refer to above.
It works on bosses yes.

10) Do the speed of Wand & Staff have influence in spell casting delay?
There is a subtle difference, but not very noticable. It is most noticable with slower area mob skills such as Fire Explosion & Shinning Ray. Wands are faster than Staffs in Maple.




Fire/Poison related questions:

1) Is Poison Brace at second job worthy at all?
At 2nd job, the monsters you train on have such low HP that fire arrow would make your life much easier. At 3rd job, your Fire/Poison composition (it will become your main skill in 3rd job) also poisons the enemy, with a great success rate. Besides that, you get Poison Mist~ a skill that generates a mist of poison. The mist stays in the screen for quite sometime, and it lets you to solo in bigger maps much easily. 2nd job skill Poison Brace has 70 base attack, 60% chance of poisoning success with 40 seconds duration; Fire/Poison compo has a 150 base attack, 70% chance of poisoning success with 40 seconds duration. No contest here. Simply put, poison in 2nd job is nothing but a waste. Don't put any SP in it.

2) Is F/P Composition both fire & poison elemental? How fast is the skill?
The damage of F/P Composition can be divided into two hits combine in one, where half the damage (150 / 2= 75) is fire elemental and the other half being poison elemental. A monster weak against fire will receive 75x1.5 from the the fire part, and 75 from the poison for a total of 187 base damage. A monster strong against fire will receive 75x0.5 (from fire) + 75 = 112 base damage. Monster strong against poison however, will receive 75 (from fire) + 0 (since monsters immune to poison only receive 1 damage) = 75 base damage. In other words, monsters strong against poison simply don't take damage from it thus lowering the damage of composition dramatically. This also mean that if you hit a monster who is weak against fire, only the fire part of the composition is enhanced with 1.5x more damage.

As for speed, testing with lv 11 Booster, it was easy to tell that the speed of Fire Arrow is slightly faster than compo is. Since fire arrow is faster, it is likely that you will do more damage over time. You would still want to use Fire Arrow for the speed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meteorain
Casting Speed >>
Explosion(multiple target) < Poison Mist < F/P composition < Fire Arrow



3) Do F/P mages have good places to train in Ossyria & Ludi?
Ossyria definately, you should realize by now that el nath is filled with cold monsters. They certainly don't like fire~ ^^
Ludi the blue & green pirate boats are weak to fire, and give decent drops & EXP.

4) Is Fire Explosion going to be useful?
One of the most powerful mob skills in the game, use this on cold monsters it's very powerful for a mob skill. The 2nd anniversary JMS/KMS update gave a speed boost to this skill, you will love it. However get F/P compo first because you need the extra damage immediately if you don't want to be out levelled by other classes. There aren't much big mob areas in ossyria besides the yeti & pepe place, that place isn't for anyone below level 90 or so.

5) How good is Poison Mist?
Very good. Basically you activate it starting out with 90 base damage, poisoning all enemies automatically. The % only effects the range. At maxed level the mist lasts a very long, and it automatically poisons all incoming enemies and repoisons ones that got out of poison. You can spam this skill around the whole map. The beauty of poison is that the kiling rate for killing a snail & a XXXXX HP monster is the same. You can generally choose to get Mist first or Explosion, however most people recommend Explosion because in parties (usually party up at yeti & pepe or the new places in toyland) you won't be travelling arond the whole map yourself.

6) What is the general recommended build order for F/P Mages?
Max F/P composition
Max Magic Amp AND Level 11 Booster (get booster first if you want to be richer).
Level 10 Seal or Max Fire Explosion or Max Poison Mist

After that you really have to see what you like to finish the left over SPs. Also do try to add Level 1 Partial Resistance whenever you can. Level 1 allows you to take 0 damage from most fire/poison attacks.

I should include, it is debatable in getting Booster or Amp first. One of my Fire Mage friend recommends Booster while another recommends Amp. Go with booster for money saving, probably speedier training too as a plus. A note of warning however, whatever you do, make sure that you do not get Explosion prior to having 11 Booster.




Ice/Lightning related questions:

1) How do they train in Ossyria?
Unfortunately the number of monsters that are weak against ice are quite limited: fire boar, fire drake, fire bulldog. Firebulldogs are for level 90s, so you would be stuck at fighting without elemental advantages for a while. The new high level mobs in ludi have a few monsters weak against ice, but those maps are quite big to move around. Many I/L mages either stay at fire drakes until they are strong enough to go firebulls or train with priests and 1 hit kill zombies with magic compo.

2) Does I/L magic Compo freeze ?
Yes. Everytime. This kinda makes ice beam a semi obsolete skill once you max compo. It will become your main attack later on.

3) Does I/L Compo take elemental advantage/disadvantages from monsters? How fast is this skill?
I/L Compo damage is divided into 75 Ice and 75 Lightning. Monsters weak against ice will take 1.5x damage from the ice part (75x1.5 +75 = 187). Same with lightning~ Just like F/P compo. Unlike Fire Mages composition for I/L Mages actually come out faster than their main attack; with level 11 booster, I/L compo comes out faster than ice beam.

4) Does Ice Strike replace Lightning Bolt ?
Definately, the range is superior to Lightning Bolt in addition that it freezes the monsters, does more damage, and is ice elemental. I consider ice elemental already a good enough advantage. You can even completely skip the Lightning Bolt skill in 2nd job if you like, since it becomes quite useless later on; but it would mean more difficult for you to train (however some ice mages only train on fire boar & fire drakes, so it won't be much of a problem).

5) What are the monsters weak against lightning?
Before the recent JMS/KMS 2nd anniversary update, the only monsters weak against lightning are slimes, octi's, clang & lorangs. Which means low level monsters... However thanks to the update the most commonly hunted monster (with godly drops & EXP) is weak against lightning. That place is mostly for level 100 and beyond however, don't get too excited.

6) I/L Compo vs Thunder Spear
Compo. Simply due to the speed. Remember that compo has lightning elemental advantage as well as freezing the monster. Let alone it casts faster than spear. Spear might do a little more damage over time, has longer range, has a nice trajectory travelling projectile -- but the speed alone makes it kinda lame. It is very slow. I/L mages often switch over the two skills. Definately get compo first though, however.

7) What is the general recommended build order for I/L Mages?
Max I/L composition
Max Magic Amp
Level 11 Booster (get booster first if you want to be richer).
Max Ice Strike

After that you really have to see what you like to finish the left over SPs. One important difference between a F/P & I/L mage is that the I/L mage can freeze the enemy, thus seal woudln't be as useful compared to a F/P mage. Also do try to add Level 1 Partial Resistance whenever you can. Level 1 allows you to take 0 damage from most ice/lightning attacks.




Priest related questions:

1) Holy Arrow (with 80 base damage) is considered weak or strong?
It is considered very weak, if not beyond weak. Priests are weak, that's a fact. Shinning ray outdamages arrow, of course. Magic claw sometimes outdamage it, and as well the speed alone already makes claw a better skill to kill small things. If you skip holy arrow you can have a much easier time maxing every other skill, which is recommended nowadays.

2) Shinning Ray, how strong & the MP consumption.
Powerful to begin with, but it gets outpowered quickily compared to other classes. You only use it to help yourself level up at zombies, and dark unicorns. It is a moderate skill. However since priests don't get Magic Amp nor Magic Booster, you will find that you will be training at a much slower rate compared to other mages (and other jobs of course). If you maxed MP eater & teleport (you definately should), the rate which you consume MP casting ray will be slower than the rate which you recover MP. So in other words, you won't ever need to worry about MP costs using ray. It is another plus for priests because this ensures stable fiancial income.

3) Dispel, how does it work? Is it worth maxing?
Dispel removes iregular status effects on you & your party members (within a big radius range) in addition to removing enemy power ups & defense ups. It becomes an essential skill for surviving as well as cancelling the power ups in a jakum battle. Max it. The 100% success rate will tell the difference of life & death at jakum party. 100% success also means that you won't have to check if it work or not (quite annoying).

4) Holy Symbol, how does it work?
This is the single skill that makes preists proud~ At very high levels, people won't be willing to party without priests. HS gives a major boost in EXP for parties, the bigger the more benefit. It is one godly skill every other job want to have. Priests are labelled with HSers generally in maple, people wont' even care if you have heal or not, HS alone is good enough. It gives 50% extra EXP to all party members in a party, but only 10% boost when you solo (never solo as a priest!) In JMS / KMS it stacks with EXP bonus rates, giving HS even more meaning. Make sure you max this skill first, you will find that you can't live without it quickly.

5) Dragon Summon, main attack or support? How strong is it?
It is a support attack skill. The difference between a good priest and a bad one is the one that the good priest does nothing but the "priest routine". The dragon attacks quite slowly, and unfortunately it is non - elemental. Because of this, dragon summon is considered a very weak skill. But the good thing here is that it attacks for you while you are doing your "priest routine".

6) What is this "preist routine" I hear about?
Priests do this, 99% of the time. Spam
-HS,
-bless,
-heal,
around the map. In jakum/firebulldog parties you might mix in dispel here and there. Actually Priests don't spam heal besides jakum, simply because the large size of maps, you should be climbing up & down 24/7 giving the party HS & bless instead.

7) Mystic Door, is it two-way? What is the benefit of maxing it?
First of all, it is two-way, meaning you can open portal to and party people in town to bring them into your map. This skill at level 1 is very useful because it lasts 30 seconds. Nobody's maxed this skill yet so hard to say, but only the duration of the door is increased if you put more SP in it.

8) Doom, what is it about? Does it work on bosses?
This skill turns all enemies into snails, reducing their HP, defense, attack, speed, pretty much everything. The enemies turned into snails will still carry their original drops. It is one godly skill HOWEVER it costs a magic stone everytime you cast it, and even at maxed level you don't get 100% success rate (90% at maxed level). Even for the higher level monsters now, doom might let you kill fast, but you would be using mills in minutes due to the cost of magic stones (5k each). It is simply too expensive to be used at all; most people call this skill rubish or simply junk. It dosen't work on bosses.

9) What is the general recommended build order for Priests?
Lv 3 Dispel (to open Holy Symbol & Mystic Door)
Lv 1 Mystic Door (the single most useful skill at level 1)
Max HS (Holy Symbol, your main skill as a priest, period.)
Max Shinning Ray & Lv 1 ER (Elemental Resistance)