Mythril's Advanced Mage Guide

A detailed guide/analysis for Mages on maximizing their effectiveness.

Introduction

This guide is an analysis on creating a mage that

• Maximizes damage
• Maximizes experience
• Maximizes use of Ability and Skill points
• Minimizes HP and MP consumption
• Minimizes meso spending

Skill Points Distribution

The conventional Mage wisdom for distributing skill points up to level 30 is sound:

• Put first skill point into Energy Bolt (lvl 8).
• Put 5 points into Improving MP Recovery (lvl 9-10).
• Put all points into Improving MaxMP Increase until it is maxed (lvl 10-13).
• Put all points into Improving MP Recovery until it is maxed (lvl 14-17).
• Put all points into Claw until it is maxed (lvl 17-24).

This will bring you up to level 24, with 2 extra points. You will have 20 total Skill Points to distribute before you reach level 30. Conventional wisdom says to put all the remaining points into Magic Guard . I offer an alternate viewpoint - put it into Magic Armour instead! Here's why.

Magic Guard takes some damage received from your mana instead of health. As a mage, you will get hit regularly, so this sounds pretty good. What you will find, however, is that your mana is constantly low - Magic Guard works against you. Even with your maxed MP Recovery, you will find it painfully slow to recover, especially as you level higher and have more mana points. You either spend alot of time sitting on Pio's chair, or consuming alot of mana pots. Your time and money is better spent elsewhere.

I recommend the following:

• At level 24, put the 2 points into Magic Guard. We need 3 in Magic Guard before we can put points into Magic Armour.
• At level 25, put 1 point into Magic Guard, then start pumping Magic Armour until level 30. This gives you only 17 in Magic Armour, but it's ok, it will help us much more than Magic Guard.

If at this point you're probably saying "Well, I could just buy mana pots". I agree, you could, but we want to also minimize the amount of money we spend. Mana pots cost about TWICE the MP they recover, whereas health potions cost about the SAME amount of HP they recover. For example, a Red Potion recovers 50HP, and costs 50 mesos. In contrast, a Blue Potion recovers 100MP and costs 192 mesos. This trend continues through all the potions.

A mage has very low HP, so it doesn't take alot to recover HP. Sitting on Pio's chair recovers 50HP every 10 seconds. At level 23 for example, your mana recovers about 80-100 every 10 seconds. Your HP is 340, but your mana is 888, so it takes 50-60 seconds to recover full HP, but takes 90+ seconds to fully recover MP. Also, as you do quests and kill monsters, you will find that HP pots are very abundant, whereas mana pots are not. Clerics don't even need HP pots if they have Heal.

Magic Armour will further help reduce the HP lost in battle.

Note About Clerics

After level 30 Clerics will have Invincible , which is similar to Magic Armour, but is probably better (I've not tested this). You could skip Magic Armour and wait for Invincible, but I feel that you need the help sooner rather than later. Even better, get both: Magic Armour for the early stages (25-35) and Invincible for later (36+). For Clerics, you will also want Bless , which requires 5 in Invincible.

To be fair to Magic Guard though, I will say that it is useful under the following circumstances:

• When fighting magic-based monsters, as Magic Armour only only boosts weapon defense, not magic defense. You can counteract this by wearing items that have the most magic defense. Even here though, I choose to use HP pots, as I want to use my MP for attack, not defense.
• When fighting monsters that do ALOT of damage to you, especially when it's more than the HP you have. You can counteract this by NOT fighting single boss monsters, or fighting above your level (see the Training and Experience section for my reasons why).

Now that you're at level 30, you'll need to make some tough decisions about SP distribution. Here are some thoughts about the different skills.

Skill Mana Consumption

For all mages, the amount of mana consumption per cast doubles after level 15 for Heal, Holy Arrow, Fire, Poison, Ice and Lightning. Here's the first tough decision: do you stop a skill at lvl 15, or max it? From level 30 to 40, you'll have 30 points, enough to max out one primary skill, or distribute it amongst several. It's best, in my opinion, to pick one thing and max it out first. You could put some points in between into supporting spells, such as MP Eater, Meditation, Invincible, and Bless, although with only a few points in those they aren't that useful. MP Eater may be the exception, as even level 6 MP Eater is not bad, as long as you're using a multiple monster attack such as Lightning or Heal. By level 43 or so you should have one skill maxed and 6-9 points into a supporting skill.

These are some thoughts on each of the skills:

• Fire wizard, max out Fire with your first 30 points, as MP Eater helps minimally. Meditation can come next, as it gives 1 additional magic attack with each point. Fire is quite powerful (arguably the strongest of the mages' single-monster attacks), and is fairly stable across all monsters. Also it deals 1.5 times the damage on an ice-based monster. A level 42 mage will deal 900-1100 damage on regular monsters (1/2 on fire and 1.5 on ice monsters). This is based on having partied extensively with a Fire wizard.

• Clerics can spread points out a little more, as you'll be using Magic Claw the most, and Heal only for healing or for undead and devil-based monsters (few and far between). For general fighting on regular monsters, you'll be using your relatively weak claw (300-400 times 2), so I'd suggest getting Heal to 15 then start pumping Invincible to 5, then pump Bless. If you plan to train alot on undead, then max Heal and pump MP Eater at least to 9, it will work very well (see the MP Eater section below). A level 43 Cleric with maxed Heal deals about 500-700 damage per hit to Chronos, a little less on Platoon and Master Chronos (400-600). Zombie Lupins I haven't tested with maxed Heal, but at 18 it does about 200-400.

• Lightning wizard, max out Lightning. This is a decent all-around attack, and a level 43 wizard deals 450-650 damage for each bolt to regular monsters. Around this time you can start considering Florina Beach as many monsters there are lightning weak, so you'll get 1.5 times damage there. It also appears that Jr. Grupins (?) in the Land of the Blue are a little more weak to lightning (I've only tested this very quickly).

• Ice, Poison, Holy Arrow - I do not have a wizard with these skills maxed out (soon though), so I don't know how good or bad these skills are.
  • I know Ice will probably be similar to Fire, albeit a little weaker (from what conversations I've had with Ice wizards). I would venture a guess that a level 42 Ice wizard will do 750-950, slightly weaker than the same Fire wizard who's doing 900-1100. However, ice freezes the monster it hits, which is great when training in Land of Wild Boar when those pesky Jr. Boogies show up. Even level 3 Ice stops them long enough for your claw to finish them off (about 3 claw hits for a level 42 wizard, hit them once with claw, then Ice, then 2 more claws).
  • Poison seems hard to master, as it's a time-based attack (maxed out deals damage over 40 seconds), and will bring a monster's HP to 1 (won't kill it). You'll have to use something else to kill it (Bolt perhaps?). That seems like a lot of calculating and timing, which is counter to my whole idea of fastest possible leveling.
  • I don't know anyone with a high level of Holy Arrow (mine is 3) so no comment here. If you have 15+ Holy Arrow, let me know how it works.

The 15 -> 16 Transition

Once you have 15 points into one of these skills, and if you do choose to max one of these out, you should consider delaying putting points into the skill for 2 levels, in order to immediately pump 6 points into the skill, instead of just 3. Let's say you have 15 points in lightning, which costs 20mp to cast. At 16, it will cost 40mp to cast. If you put all 3 points at the next level up, you'll only be doing 3 more points of damage for twice the mp. This isn't enough to justify the cost, so what I suggest is to wait until the next level up, and then put all 6 points into the skill. I've talked to some who waited 3 or even 4 levels before putting all 9 or 12 points into the skill, just to get over this mana hump.

MP Eater

Heal and Lightning are multiple-enemy attacks, whereas Holy Arrow, Fire, Poison, and Ice affect only one monster at a time. For heal (used as an attack on undead/zombie monsters) and lightning, MP Eater is a must. Even at level 9 MP Eater, if you kill multiple monsters within 6 hits, you literally can keep attacking almost indefinitely.

For the other skills, I would not recommend MP Eater. Maxed out, MP Eater has a 30% chance of reclaiming MP. If MapleStory math is like real world math, and if you're using a single-monster skill, it's not every 3rd monster that you'll get some MP back. Rather, it's a 1/3 chance per monster. Read that again, and realize the difference - you have a 70% chance of not getting MP back for each monster you kill. You could miss indefinitely with those odds.

But with a multiple-monster attack, the math works in our favour. For every 3 that you kill, you get MP back from one of those monsters. Since Lightning can hit up to 6 monsters at once (Heal hits up to 5), that's about 2 monsters for which you'll get MP back. I've proven this to myself with my level 41 Cleric, Heal level 15, MP Eater level 9 in the Kerning subway, against Jr. Wraiths. My claw and Holy Arrow kept draining MP, but when I used Heal, my MP kept recovering and I rarely went below 1900 out of 2200 MP. I could literally kill Jr. Wraiths all day long, as long as I made sure to hit at least 3 each time. You also have to be able to kill them within 5 or 6 hits, otherwise MP Eater is not as effective.

• Update: At Heal 15, MP Eater 9, it also works on Zombie Lupin and Chronos. Don't try the larger Chronos (purple and blue ones), you won't kill those fast enough and mana will drain.

Ability Points and Distribution

For a "standard" mage that wants to equip all available armor and weapons, you will want to put points into both int and luk. On Victoria Island, the items that can be purchased at the Ellinia Weapons and Armour shop are as shown below. The standard Mage recommendation for luk to be 3 above your level are not necessarily true. MOST of the time, it is in fact only 2 above your level. That's one more point you can put into int, for a little more damage. Use the guide below to put EXACTLY only the amount of luk needed to equip the item.

Wands

Name	Level	Int	Luk
Wooden	8	NA	NA
Hardwood	13	40	15
Metal	18	55	20
Ice	23	70	25
Mithril	28	85	30

Staffs

Name	Level	Int	Luk
Wooden	10	32	13
Sapphire	15	48	18
Emerald	15	48	18
Old Wooden	20	62	23
Wizard	25	78	28

Hats

Name	Level	Int	Luk
Brown Apprentice	10	32	13
Moon	15	48	18
Wizardry	20	62	23

Tops

Name	Level	Int	Luk	Gender
Training	8	NA	NA	Male
Split Piece	18	55	20	Male
Armine	8	NA	NA	Female
Arianne	13	40	15	Female
Split	18	55	20	Female
Fairy	28	85	30	Female

Bottoms

Name	Level	Int	Luk	Gender
Training	8	NA	NA	Male
Split Piece	18	55	20	Male
Armine	8	NA	NA	Female
Arianne	13	40	15	Female
Split	18	55	20	Female
Fairy	28	85	30	Female

Overalls

Name	Level	Int	Luk	Gender
Plain Robe	13	40	15	Male
Doros Robe	23	70	25	Male
Wizard Robe	28	85	30	Male
Doroness Robe	23	70	25	Female

Shoes

Name	Level	Int	Luk
Basic Boots	10	NA	NA
Nitty	15	48	18

AP Points During In-Between Levels

I also recommend that in between levels, you put all ability points into int, and at the last moment put enough into luk to equip the next item that you want. For example, at level 18, you need 20 luk to equip the female split top and bottom. At level 28, you'll need 30 luk to equip the female fairy top and bottom. For the in between levels of 19-26, put all AP into int, to maximize your damage during this time. Then at levels 27 and 28, put all 10 points into luk so you can equip the next item.

A Note About "Luckless" Mages

For a "luckless" mage, you are putting all AP into int, therefore you will not be able to equip anything that requires more luk than what you started with. UnluckysparX has a decent Luckless magician guide detailing what equipment you need/should get, however I will refute the Skill Point distribution and Training tips.

Borrowed from UnluckysparX's guide, here are the luckless items you can equip:

• Level 8 - Wooden Wand
• Level 8 - Stolen Fence
• Level 10 - White Bandana
• Level 10 - Work Gloves
• Level 11 - Shirt
• Level 11 - Grey Thick Sweat Pants
• Level 11 - Gomushins
• Level 16 - Ice Jeans or Sandblasted Jeans
• Level 16-26 - Shoes
• Level 25 - Starry Bandana
• Level 26 - Camo Pants
• Level 31 - Sneakers
• Level 40 - Yellow Umbrella
• Level 43 - Maple Lama Staff

I will also add the following:

• At level 15, get the Metal Headgear from Lith Harbour Armour store. You'll look like a car accident victim, but it's better than the bandana.
• At level 15, do the Maya And The Weird Medicine quest, for a level 25 brown bamboo hat. You can choose to wait until you're closer to level 25 before doing this one, but it's available at level 15.
• At level 20, get a baseball hat from Henesys Armour store.
• At level 21, do the Mrs. Ming Ming's Second Worry quest, for a red ribboned headband.
• At level 21, do the Kerning Party Quest if you wish to possibly get the brown, blue, or green bamboo hats, although a mage can only really equip the brown hat. You can also get earrings that provide some defense.
• At level 25, do the quest called "Mystery of Niora Hospital", which will give you a raggedy cape.
• At level 30, do the Jack Schwetty's Secret Book quest, to get the sauna robe.
• At level 40, do the Robinson's ID quest to get the Guiltian hat.
• At level 42, do the Icarus and the Flying Pill quest to get the cape.

Maximizing Training and Experience

I've often been told to train on monsters that I can kill in 3 or more hits, to get more experience points (EXP). What I'm going to tell you is, DON'T.

If you are training for the express purpose of leveling up, you want to actually minimize the number of hits required, for the maximum EXP (If you are fighting monsters to fulfill a quest, then this doesn't apply).

For example, my level 41 cleric takes 2 hits to kill a Fire Boar for 60 EXP. Claw takes 20MP to cast (maxed out). However, it takes me 1 hit to kill Rock Face, for 45 EXP. In 2 hits, I get 90 EXP, versus 60 for a Fire Boar. So for 40MP I either get 60 or 90 EXP. Now, which would you train on?

When choosing what to train on, always weigh your options, such as how much EXP you'll get, how much damage will you take, etc. Lightning and Heal should go where it's cramped, and the monsters spawn quickly. Other attacks should consider slower monsters, more spaced out. For a single-monster attack, for example, train on Ligators instead of Fire Boars (same EXP, similar mesos, but Ligators are SLOW). Likewise, Rock Face (slow) over Grey Boars (fast). Of course, if you're completing a quest, you really have no choice.

When using Heal or Lightning, be patient and wait for the monsters to clump up. A trick I use is to lure them by using Bolt to get them to come to you.

Some Tips When Fighting

Here are some miscellaneous tips that may (or may not) increase your fighting/killing efficiency. The idea is to maximize the time you spend fighting, and minimize the time you spend walking, climbing, running away, etc.

• Jump and Attack Like a Thief - A mage cannot attack while jumping, but with some practice, can perform what appears to be a jump/attack combo. It it useful when you are being mobbed by monsters. Normally when being mobbed, you might just run or jump away, but why not get a hit or two in while you're doing that? The trick is to hit your attack and jump keys in rapid succession, with the attack preceding the jump by a split nanosecond. It works best if your attack and jump keys are next to each other - I use the Ctrl key for jump, and Shift for my main attack (Magic Claw for now).
  • I consider this more of a novelty (you can impress noobs), as Teleport gets you out of those situations a lot faster.
• Use Teleport Offensively - Teleport is often used to travel quickly, or to get away from monsters. However, it can be used to help you fight as well. The idea here is to continue fighting with minimal interruption.
  • Teleport past a slow ranged attack - Star Pixies (Orbis Cloud Park) and Mateons (Omega Sector) for example, shoot at you when provoked. Their projectiles are slow enough that you can jump over, duck under, or teleport past to continue attacking. This works best if you start your attack from far away, just inside your attack's reach.
    • Variation: double teleport - you can tell me where this might be useful, but after you teleport through a monster, he will turn to face you. Just as he does this, teleport back to your original location. If you hit the arrow key and teleport key almost simultaneously, then immediately hit your attack key, your character will continue to face the monster and you can keep blasting away. I use this rarely, but maybe someone with cheaper teleport than me can use it.
  • Teleport away or through - When fighting a particularly tough monster (4+ claw hits), it is likely to crowd you. Keep attacking it as long as you can, until it's nearly upon you, then hit teleport and attack almost simultaneously (attack first). This gives you one last hit, then teleports you through it. Now turn around and continue attacking. Alternatively, you can teleport away from it, again using the quick teleport/arrow key, then attack combo to continue facing the monster and attacking it.
  • Teleport forward - If a monster has ranged attacks, such as Lupins, Mateons, etc, sometimes it knocks you back so that you're out of hitting range. In this case, just teleport toward the monster to close the gap and continue hitting it.
  • Teleport down - On many maps (such as Omega Sector's, or Toy Factory) you are constantly running across one platform, climbing down the next, and the next. That's a lot of time wasted in running. You can teleport down a lot farther (about twice the distance) than teleporting right, left, or up. For example, in the Toy Factory (I believe Process 1, Zone 2) where there are the blue and red robots, once you climb to the top, kill the bots there, then just teleport down to the lower platform (and the one below that) and continue fighting.
• Catch Breath and Cooldown - You're probably aware that you must "catch your breath" for about 2 seconds after attacking or being hit before you can do things like drop inventory, or equip/unequip items. There is also what I call a "cooldown" period of about 1 second between attacking/being hit before you can use an active skill (Heal, Magic Armour etc) or drink a potion. Even in between those, there's a pause (have you noticed the delay when you try to drink two potions quickly right in a row?) Be very aware of this, otherwise you'll find yourself wondering why you died, and being mad as heck, screaming "But I hit the key!!". To be safe, I suggest a few things:
  • Heal or drink potions when your HP is just above a third.
  • When in fierce firefights, hit that Heal or potion key twice. What happens is that you'll get hit, you hit the potion key, but it doesn't register due to cooldown. If you're like me, you have your tunes cranking while you play, and can't hear the potion gurgle. Hitting it twice ensures you drank that potion. Heal has a visual confirmation so it's not as important, but I still do just to ensure I cover the hit/cooldown problem, so that my fingers can get back to the attack key and not be waiting on the heal key.
    • Drinking a pot also has visual confirmation in that your HP bar increases, but I prefer to keep my eyes on me and the monsters around me. That split second look away to check the HP bar could be fatal.
• Keyboard Layout - Consider changing your keyboard layout. The default settings aren't necessarily the best (although they may be for you). This is my keyboard layout, and the reasons why I do it this way. For reference, my left hand pinky is on the Ctrl key, ring finger on Shift, middle finger on Z, index finger on X, thumb on Space Bar. Right hand operates the four arrow keys.
  • Jump - Ctrl : No particular reason why.
  • Normal melee attack - C : Farthest away, since it's rarely used except on Maple Island and later for box breaking quests.
  • Teleport - Z : Z is for Zip, also it's next to my attack keys (Claw, Ice, Heal, Lightning) for attack/teleport combos.
  • Magic Claw - Shift : This puts it right next to my Jump and Teleport keys, for easier combo attacks.
  • Ice or Heal - X : Next to Teleport and near Jump, for combos.
  • Lightning - Alt : Next to Teleport and near Jump, for combos.
  • Pickup - Space Bar : The thing I like to do most of all, is to pick up the loot I worked for. I want to be able to hit my pickup key from across the room with a pillow if needed.
  • My active spells are usually nearby. Magic Armour is A, Bless or Meditation is on S.
  • All potions are on the Insert/Home/PgUp/PgDn/Delete/End keys.

Some Training Areas

Here are some places I've found good for certain purposes. I mostly train to level, so my favorite areas are pretty standard. As you can probably tell, I prefer Victoria Island over Orbis or Ludibrium. Up to about level 50, I'd say Vic Isle. Levels 40-70, I'd say Orbis. Levels 60 and beyond, you're in Ludi. One thing about training: it's actually not good to have a room to yourself. Monsters spawn faster when they are being killed, so if you're alone, you'll have to run all over the room killing. Get some friends to join you, each taking a different section of the room.

• Ant Hill 1, Ant Hill IV - Lots of Zombie Mushrooms and Horny Mushrooms, with good spawn. If Ant Hill 1 is crowded (and it usually is), Ant Hill IV has an almost identical layout at the bottom, and few people (until they read this :). Not great equip drops, but lots of potions and EXP. Ideal for 1-2 hit Lightning Mages and Clerics with Heal (for the Zombie Mushrooms).
• Kerning Subway - room after room of single-type monsters, advance through as your level increases. Clerics with Heal will love rooms full of Jr. Wraiths and Wraiths. Lightning mages go to town on Blue Bubblings and even the Stirges.
• To make lots of money for light work, Hidden Street Purple Plains 1 in Amoria has Dark Cellions at the top platform. These drop 200/300+ mesos. The only "problem" is their extraordinarily high respawn rate might get you killed unless you're very aware of the Heal key, or have lots of potions. Ice Mages rule here, as Dark Cellions are fire-based.
• Henesys Hunting Ground - It's actually a great place to train, due to a wide variety of monsters, but it is plagued by overcrowding, and hackers.
• Land of Wild Boar - Nice sized room with 3 platforms. Spawn is fast, but only if you have another person in the room helping. As soon as you can kill these in 2 hits (around level 34) train here until around level 42. Maxed out lightning is great here, mostly 2 hits, sometimes 1. So-so drops, mostly leathers and stiff feathers, orange and blue pots. Sometimes you'll get up to level 30 equip drops.
• Excavation Site 1,2,3 - Ghost stumps, Wood Face, Rock Face abound. They are slow and easy to kill. Sites 1 and 2 have slightly unfriendly layouts (too many small platforms), but site 3 is the usual 3 platforms, easy to get up and down. Spawn is moderately fast, especially with another person in your party. Drops are horrible, but you'll get decent pots and ores.
• Cave(s) of Evil Eye - Small caves full of Evil eyes, a lightning mages dream. Slow spawn and the caves are slightly tall, but good exp if you're slightly patient. Patience is a good thing here, as it gives you time to recover mana. No truly safe place to sit though, you'll have to mostly hang on ropes, so bring those HP pots. Drops are poor, mostly tails and around 80 mesos, plus some pots.
• Eos Tower -- For lightning mages, Eos tower is almost heaven. Well, the inside parts are. Weak creatures abound, medium spawn, very friendly lightning mage platform layout. Drops are ok, good mesos, usually around 100 and higher. The only thing you'll hate are the tiny platforms in several of the rooms, they're easy to miss, causing you to fall into a platform full of monsters.
• Deep Monkey Forest 2 (Zombie Lupin cave) - Clerics with decent Heal (15+) will level like mad here. You'll need to be around level 40 to be really effective, but you could level to 48 with these zombie monkeys. A trick I use is to go to the top of the cave and slowly descend towards the bottom, hitting lupins on the way down, but with just 1 hit of heal (don't kill them yet). This causes them to chase you down the platforms and by the time you hit the bottom platform, you'll have a swarm of them for easy pickings. Repeat by going to the top and killing the few at the very top, which causes new spawns, then descending again. With a decent MP Eater level (7+), it's going to be hard to leave, as you'll barely use any pots whatsoever. Good meso drops.
• Path of Time, Whirlpool of Time - Again, for Healers, Chronos are easy kills for your 15+ Heal. They don't really clump as nice as Zombie Lupins, and the rooms are slightly large, but it's a decent alternative to Zombie Lupins if you're in Ludi anyway. Good meso drops, and there's a chance of getting the Mystic Shield (small Chronos), or Esther Shield (larger Chronos).

Author Notes

• This guide is wholly written by me, Mythril, is based on my experiences, and includes my opinions and preferences, your mileage may vary. I have 3 mages that I play and test on, and this guide reflects what I've seen while playing them. If you have comments or corrections, please add them below in the Comments section.
• Thanks to UnluckysparX for his Luckless guide. If you wish your link altered or removed, please let me know.
• Please let me know if you want to use some or all parts of this text.

Comments

Thanks for crediting me, I don't mind you using a bit of my guide. :) - Soaa, a.k.a. UnluckysparX