Turning Elemental Mages into Single-Target Specialists with New Staffs

*UPDATED*
I’d like to suggest something that might enable mages to excel at single-target dps (specifically buffs to Paralyze and Chain Lightning) whilst sacrificing mobbing capabilities (ultimate nerfs), without a single skill change made. Note that this is only relevant to elemental mages, not clerics/priests/bishops. Hopefully, this can create more variety in mage roles without messing up the gameplay of existing mages and not making the game feel too custom.

My primary goal for this suggestion is to get more elemental mages, especially F/Ps into endgame boss runs such as Zakum, Horntail, Neo Tokyo bosses etc.

Suggestion: Bring in two one custom modified mage weapons with the following stats (Refer to Weapons Info section below):

How: Change the stats of two one currently unavailable mage weapons in-game, preferably for ease of implementation, ones that already exist in the system. I am using Celestial Staff as example because the look fits thematically and it seems like ITCG won’t ever make it to ML? I think it’ll be cool to make 2 versions of Celestial Staff, a level 130 and 180 one.

Scroll down further for results, this was tested on a V83 server, CL/Para stats has been adjusted to match ML’s, which I assume should yield similar results on a v62 one like ML.

Spoiler: Updated: Weapon Info

Spoiler: Ignore: Celestial Staff 1 (Lvl 130)

Celestial Staff 1 (Lvl 130) (I’m using Umaru staff as example)



Custom changes to weapon stats:

Req LVL: 70 increased to 130

Req INT: 213 decreased to 0

Req LUK: 73 increased to 636

Weapon Attack: 60 increased to 92

Magic Attack: 90 increased to 145

Added elemDefault: 75 – Non-Lightning/Poison elemental attacks will only deal 75% of normal damage.

Added incRMAL: 375 – Added Lightning elemental damage, increased to 375%

Added incRMAS: 725 – Added Poison damage, increased to 725%

Spoiler: Ignore: Celestial Staff 2 (Lvl 180)

Celestial Staff 2 (Lvl 180)



Custom changes to weapon stats:

Req LVL: 70 increased to 180

Req INT: 213 decreased to 0

Req LUK: 73 increased to 900

Weapon Attack: 60 increased to 111

Magic Attack: 90 increased to 300

Added elemDefault: 75 – Non-Lightning/Poison elemental attacks will only deal 75% of normal damage.

Added incRMAL: 575 – Added Lightning elemental damage, increased to 575%

Added incRMAS: 1100 – Added Poison damage, increased to 1100%

Spoiler: Updated: Celestial Staff (Lvl 100)

Stats changed:
Req LVL: 100
Req LUK: 700
Weapon Attack: 72
Magic Attack: 117
elemDefault: 75
Lightning Dmg: 450%
Poison Dmg: 800%

Spoiler: What this does in a nutshell:

*Update note: The numbers in this video no longer accurately reflect the new updated stats, but the general results remain similar, i.e. ult still nerfed, para/cl still buffed.
Now have options to add int first until a certain level to help levelling but at the cost of wearing the staff at later levels; or max luk first and wear staff earlier.
Options:
1) Add all int every lvl until lvl 30 (total 150), then wear staff @ lvl 170, then add remaining 150 int until lvl 200.
2) Add all int every lvl until lvl 40 (total 200), then wear staff @ lvl 180, then add remaining 100 int until lvl 200.
3) Add all int every lvl until lvl 60 (total 300), then wear staff @ lvl 200
4) Add all luk every lvl until lvl 140 (total 700), then wear staff @ lvl 140, then add remaining 300 int until lvl 200.

Speed things up with SP resets, MW and INT/LUK gears. Also make use of AP resets to get some extra int into early levels to be reset out later.
With these, ULT dmg is still in the acceptably low range even when equipping ULT-favoured elemental wands.*

Note that in the video I am not wearing anything other than the unscrolled staffs. The proposed weapons require extremely high amount of luk in exchange for massive increase to lightning/poison elemental attacks at high levels. The high luk requirement nerfs your base magic to the ground while the Celestial Staff elemental buffs brings only the dmg of the desired skills back up. This ensures your late game mobbing skills, which are mostly Ice/Fire based are nerfed in exchange for stronger late game single target attacks which are mostly Lightning/Poison based.

Celestial Staff-build mages also enjoy these buffs in exchange for nerfs to their mana pools and arguably survivability as a result of a putting 90% 70% of your AP into LUK.

Spoiler: Imagining the journey to 200 as a Celestial Luk Mage

*Update: no longer accurate due to new stats*

Lvl 1-179

Your damage will increase very slowly. You’re putting everything into luk, so the only damage upgrades you have in this level range are equip upgrades and new skills. The alternative is to max out 100 int in early levels but equip the weapons approx. 20 levels later.

Lvl 1-70ish

Your damage will be absolute trash, so trash you might end up healing the mob instead. Ok, maybe not but it will be trash. No one will want you in PQs. F/Ps have it easier because Poison Brace for levelling.

Lvl 70-120ish

Nothing’s changed. Again, F/Ps have it easier because poison mist. Levelling at hard hitting mobs will be punishing because of a lower mana pool. But hey, at least you have a shit load of luck.

Lvl 120-179

At this point you can decide to either max ults first and use ele wands or max Chain Lightning/Paralyze first and reap the elemental buffs at Lvl 130 from Celestial Staff 1.

With such low int, you can expect your ults to hit only a fraction of the original dmg. Basically spamming ult is going to be hella expensive now especially with the low mana pool. Equipping Celestial Staffs to use ults together with CL/Para is inefficient due to the elemental penalty, this is to “nerf” the benefits from using a 15 mob hit skill and a buffed single target skill at the same time.

Equipping the Celestial Staff 1 will bring your CL/Para dmg to near what it is originally, however this dmg boost plateaus and this is only to help you endure the torture until you get to level 180 for the Celestial Staff 2 upgrade.

F/Ps will still mostly rely on misting to level, while I/L can finally level decently with CL.

Lvl 180-200

Finally you can reap the main reward and start adding int. Depending on your Maple Warrior skill level you might be able to save some AP to add to int earlier. Equipping Celestial Staff 2, you will see a sudden spike in your CL/Paralyze dmg. Paralyze dmg on ele neutral mobs might be even higher than your NL buddy’s Triple Throw dmg initially on ele neutral mobs. Your dpm now is likely in the top tier range. Paralyze dmg on poison weak mobs can also be quite “op” at this point, but rest assure that this benefit is offset by the absolute garbage that is the poison weakness mob table.

As you start adding back int, your dmg will increase but your top tier attackers will still be ahead of you. I’m not sure if this is an actual effect but with this, CL/Para dmg now scales very nicely with additional ints. You might also notice that your CL/Paralyze dmg range can vary greatly, you may have 20k+ dmg difference between your highest lowest and highest hit.

At high levels you’ll have so much luk that mobs can’t touch you more than half the time.

Spoiler: Updated: Suggested mob drop

Lilynouch, Lyka, Castellan Toad, NLC/Ellinia Gacha

This may or may not also trigger damage hack report.[/SPOILER]

 

Seems like your thread is on a different point. The difference is that this won't piss off existing ele mages by forcing a skill change while also bringing in new variety for mage roles and finally making mage endgame bossing a thing (single target bosses).

The full luk requirement is needed to nerf lategame ultimates enough to justify the buffs to the single target dmg. Basically Ult dmg will be swapped with the single target dmgs.

In regards to people leeching on those low level ranges, I didn't think it was that big of a deal since people mostly PQ anyway

 

Ok, I’ve simplified this, this seems to be better. Now only need 1 staff. Now have options to add int first until a certain level to help levelling but at the cost of wearing the staff at later levels; or max luk first and wear staff earlier.

Spoiler: New stats

Stats changed:
Req LVL: 100
Req LUK: 700
Weapon Attack: 72
Magic Attack: 117
elemDefault: 75
Lightning Dmg: 450%
Poison Dmg: 800%

Options:
1) Add all int every lvl until lvl 30 (total 150), then wear staff @ lvl 170, then add remaining 150 int until lvl 200.
2) Add all int every lvl until lvl 40 (total 200), then wear staff @ lvl 180, then add remaining 100 int until lvl 200.
3) Add all int every lvl until lvl 60 (total 300), then wear staff @ lvl 200
4) Add all luk every lvl until lvl 140 (total 700), then wear staff @ lvl 140, then add remaining 300 int until lvl 200.

Speed things up with SP resets, MW and INT/LUK gears. Also make use of AP resets to get some extra int into early levels to be reset out later.
With these, ULT dmg is still in the acceptably low range even when equipping ULT-favoured elemental wands.

Please also let this not be thrown into the pits of ignored suggestions

 

Keeping a low population of these LUK mages might help prevent the server from appearing too custom. This was never meant to be mainstream, it's supposed to come off as just a silly, but immensely useful add-on like Maroon Mop. Staff can do a sneaky add into Gacha drop and only mention the change once in small, 5% opacity text in patch notes, under the guise as a random addition in spirits of anniversary fun and never state its purpose or the hidden stats (for us to find out for ourselves) and I'm totally fine with it. Maybe if I had made the weapon picture as a Pink Flower Tube that would've conveyed the message better. Or alternatively, duplicate an elemental wand/staff and call it elemental staff 9 to be discreet.

The idea is that the item is rare enough and the build is hard enough that most people are put off from trying it. The ONLY reason you would play this is because you actually love the elemental mage classes (not for their grinding abilities) but were turned off or aren't enjoying it because of the current no/shit-endgame bossing gameplay. Yes this only helps a small percentage of the population, so why bother? But it takes such miniscule amount of work that the benefit greatly outweighs the 5-10min investment into making the changes. A lower population of these luk mages also means that eventually, talk of this topic will die down amongst the general population, which means this will probably go unnoticed by the majority and unlikely to affect ML's classic appeal (you know, the classic Maple where people make HH mules?).

Make this happen or I'll leak Kimmy's dick pics.

 

Disregard this, I've scrapped the idea. But there's an updated version of this suggestion if you want to have a read.

Spoiler: updated version

https://forum.maplelegends.com/inde...st-stat-buffs-for-all-yall.30164/#post-209916

To answer your question, the proposed elemental wands have increased elemental damage (which is a hidden stat), which is responsible for the higher magic damage you see on the demonstrations.

 

It's all explained on the original post, read the whole thing to get the idea. Pointless thread at this point so I wouldn't bother.