Magician beginner guide

Main article: Magician

‎

Introduction

Because of the various updates Maplestory has made, I have decided to make simple guide for the Beginner Magician. I will also be using various examples from my experience, and thus such details may not apply for every person who uses this article. In addition, parts from the Original Magician's Guide by Mapletip will also be used, and I give full credit to the writer(s).

First, and foremost, from the original guide:

Why Choose to be a Magician?

Magicians are a highly versatile class, with several pros/cons:

Pros:

• Highest amount of MP.
• Ranged attacks, some of which can go through walls.
• Decent accuracy.
• May use MP to replace HP with Magic Guard.
• Second Job advancement classes have elemental attacks; Clerics have many useful party skills.
• Decent damage at Third Job advancement levels.

Cons:

• Difficulty building a perfect Magician.
• Very low HP.
  (This can be covered by Magic Guard, which, however, may lead to higher consumption of HP Potions)
• Very low Weapon Defense.
• Magic Guard may consume too much MP and, therefore, may make the Magician replace HP potions with MP ones.
• MP potions cost a lot of money (e.g. 100 Blue Potions cost 20,000 mesos, 19,200 at Ellinia Department Store). This problem can be lessened once you acquire Improving MP Recovery, and later on, MP Eater.
• In Second Job advancement, low damage to monsters not belonging to a weak element.

My Thoughts on the Magician

Magicians make up a highly versatile class, as mentioned before, for their various, and useful, skills, as they become Clerics, Ice/Lightning Mages, or Fire/Poison Mages. With skills that can heal, freeze, stun, poison, etc., and cover mobs, Magicians are great party members. As ranged magic users, Magicians do not have to get too close to their targets, and can safely attack from afar. However, as such, they lack the HP other classes possess, and also use up high amounts of MP. Because of this, Magicians end up quite vulnerable to losing both HP and MP quickly, if not trained correctly. Although, it is possible to equate these negative traits as a Magician gains higher levels.

Creating Your Character

As of the most recent patch, all characters created start out with the same stats. Therefore, when you first start up the game, all you have to do is:

• Select whichever world you like (up to three characters per world).
• Select which channel you would like to play on (least population is preferred, if you do not want lagging).
• Click, "Create a Character" and select "Explorer."
• Select a name, and the desired traits.
• You will be sent back to the previous page; select your character, choose a PIC (remember to keep this secret, no matter what!) and ta-da! You can now begin.

Starting Your Journey

When you first begin, you will arrive on Maple Island, a small piece of land allocated for training novices, like you.

As per the most recent patch, all AP is designated after reaching First Job, and any missed SP will be returned. Therefore, focus on leveling up.

The tutorial is oriented so that you travel in one direction, so please follow each NPC's instructions, and remember to return to him/her to collect your reward (if required- check your Quest list by pressing Q on your keyboard).

Oh, and, because you will receive a Hat armor and a Razor, please refrain from spending any mesos on these items in Amherst.

Also, note that you are supplied with a Beginner skill book. Open this by pressing K on your keyboard. Up until Level 7, you will receive 1 SP per level. I suggest that, as a to-be Magician, you max out Nimble Feet and Three Snails; Nimble Feet serves as a temporary speed boost, since you are without Teleport in the first Job Advancement. Three Snails will help a lot as a Beginner, since it does a clean 40 HP damage per hit.

Are you finished with everything? Are you ready for Victoria Island?

Here's a checklist to see if you have completed all the things to do on Maple Island. Have you:

• Reached at least Level 8? (If you did all the quests, you should be at least that level)
• Allocated all your SP?
• Received a Hat armor and a Razor?
• Received the Chief's Recommendation Letter to use as a free pass aboard the ship in Southperry? (This saves you the hassle of having to pay 150 mesos- yes, I know, I'm cheap. But hey, who turns down the chance for a free ride?)
• Cleared all the quests listed under "Maple Island" under the "Available" and "In Progress" tabs?

If so, then get ready to go to Victoria Island! Go to Southperry, all the way to the end, and talk to Shanks. He will notice your recommendation letter and take you to Lith Harbor, the first place you arrive upon reaching Victoria Island, for free.

Becoming a Magician

Ready to make your First Job Advancement? Go right, along the bottom path, and talk to Olaf. Complete Biggs' quest, and also take the quest(s) that Olaf has to offer. Remember to pick, "The Path to a Magician" (wording may be different).

Continue to the right, until you reach the NPC labelled, "Magician Statue,"; she will take you to Ellinia for free.

When you arrive in Ellinia, continue all the way North to this isolated building; enter, and talk to Grendel the Really, Really Old. He will transform you into a Magician (gaze in awe at the spectacle on the screen and savor it, for this will not happen again until you reach Level 30). You will then receive all the SP you've missed. You are now officially a Magician! ...What? What's different? Well, now you'll be focusing on magical attacks rather than simply spamming the Ctrl button, and be able to wear much cooler armor, and use weapons oriented to your job.

The Magician

After becoming a Magician, you will notice several changes. First, your HP will be slightly lower than average, and your MP will also increase sufficiently. You will also notice that your Weapon Attack and Magic Attack have switched roles.

Stat Allocation

As a Magician, your Magic Attack is highly dependent on your INT stat, and somewhat LUK stat. The common formula for the Magician's stat allocation is:

LUK = (Level + 3) INT = everything else

As a beginner, you shouldn't worry about other types of allocations; simply press the "Auto-assign" button. NEVER put any AP into HP, MP, STR, or DEX. I will slap you if you do.

What Armor Does a Magician Use?

A Magician uses wands and staves, and traditionally wears robe-like, loose-fitting clothes. After making your First Job Advancement, you should have received a Beginner's Wand. Use that for now. Also, I suggest that you wait until you are Level 15 before buying the Hat/Top/Bottom/Overall/Shoes for your character, and Level 20 before buying a new wand/staff. It saves money; plus, you already have a sufficient amount of Magic Attack and Weapon Defense to last until then. The training you receive will also ensure that you reach that level fairly quickly. However, that is merely what I suggest. If you are funded, suit yourself; buy whatever armor and weapons you wish.

Time to Break Out Some New Skills

You have now received a new skill book, with various new abilities. Don't get carried away though; you only gain 3 SP per level; adding the 1 SP you receive from making the Job Advancement, you only have a total of 67 SP to spend- think carefully. A list of all the First Job Advancement Skills for the Magician is shown below:

Icon	Skill Name	Description	Type	Mastered	Element	Prerequisites
	MP Boost	Increases Max MP permanently. Also increases MP proportional to your level.	Passive	20	x	-
	Magic Guard	Damage dealt to you affects your MP instead of your HP. If your MP reaches 0, your HP takes the full amount of damage.	Supportive	10	x	-
	Magic Armor	Condenses magic around your armor to increase Weapon Defense by a percentage of your Magic Defense.	Supportive	10	x	Magic Guard Level 3
	Energy Bolt	Consumes MP to fire a condensed energy bolt that explodes on contact with an enemy.	Active	20	x	-
	Teleport	Allows you to teleport a set distance to other locations on the same map using the arrow keys.	Supportive	5	x	-

A Quick Overview of the Skills

• Improving MP Recovery. This skill increases the amount of [MP]

• Improving Max MP Increase. As you can probably see, the higher the level of this skill, the more MP you get for every level-up. (When this skill is maxed, a Magician will gain much more MP every time (s)he levels-up than compared to a Magician who has not maxed this skill.) It is recommended to max this skill as soon as possible, because a Magician can be more effective (i.e. attack more times before running out of MP) if (s)he has more Max MP.

• Magic Guard. Due to the Magicians' rather low levels of HP, some higher level monsters may be able to kill you with a single hit. With this skill maxed, we can avoid that risk. It is advisable to max this skill last because, although this skill is very important, the other skills suggested to be maxed are more significant early on in the game. People are also careful about using this skill because, if not used sparingly, it will lead to a wasting of money (as you might end up having to buy MP potions rather than the cheaper HP potions).

• Magic Armour. Most players criticise the possibility of maxing this skill because 40 of weapon defense, in the long run, would be of negligible help. Besides, if we chose to max this skill, we would mess up with every other skill as it needs three points in Magic Guard — we would need three additional points (which we would have to subtract from Magic Claw, Improving MP Recovery, or Improving Max MP Increase.)

• Energy Bolt vs. Magic Claw. These are the two available attack skills for the Magician. Maxed Energy Bolt has 55 basic attack with 14 of MP cost. Maxed Magic Claw has two hits of 40 basic attack (40 x 2) with 20 of MP cost. That means that Energy Bolt's effectively would be of:

(3.93 Basic attack) for (1 MP),

and Magic Claw's would be of:

(2 Basic attack + 2 Basic attack) for (1 MP).

So that, if the target monster has little or no Magic Defense, Magic Claw's effectiveness would be greater than Energy Bolt's. In addition, Magic Claw can do more damage than Energy Bolt in the same amount of time: compare 55 base damage to two times 40 base damage (80), and both spells taking about the same time to cast. Moreover, Magic Claw can go through obstacles (like walls), unlike Energy Bolt. That is why almost all players choose to max Magic Claw over Energy Bolt. However, opposer of this skill argue that Energy Bolt is more effective with high-Magic Defense monsters, because their Magic Defense value is applied twice on Magic Claw and only once on Energy Bolt. This argument is flimsy though, because by the time you're facing these stronger monsters, you should have already acquired more effective attacking skills (i.e. from the Second or Third Job Advancement skill books).

The only real reasons for choosing Energy Bolt over Magic Claw would be either because the monsters you are killing take one hit of Energy Bolt to kill (using Energy Bolt, therefore, would save 6 MP per cast) or because you would rather higher damage in one hit than medium damage in two hits (this would allow for knockbacks of certain monsters more often — but knockbacks occur rather infrequently anyway).

I WILL UPDATE THE OVERVIEW SECTION AT A LATER TIME. PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING I HAVE WRITTEN SO FAR. THANK YOU.

Questions, Comments, Concerns?

If you have any, please contact me, Philly, at [email protected] You may use any part of my guide, and you are not required to give credit, but DO NOT CLAIM ANY PART OF THIS AS YOUR OWN. That is called plagiarism, and is highly reprehensible.