Magician Ice & Lightning Mage guide

Gandarhva's Ice & Lightning Mage Guide

Introduction:





Pros:
- Cheap: there is very little funding required, compared to other jobs, until 4th job.
- Self-sufficient: you are more than capable of grinding to 120 without leeching, at a reasonably fast pace too. However, partying up, especially with priests, will still be faster most of the time so give it some consideration.

Cons:
- No HS: this is a problem you will eventually have to address, by either partying with priests or making an HS mule for yourself. Especially if you intend to sell leech.
- Less sought after in bossing parties (heavily sugar-coated).

Please note that this guide is primarily catered for newer players who are not funded. Low level INT equips, Z-Helms etc., will only be mentioned later as end-game equips, and there will be some face-palm level obvious stuff.


Ability Points.

Dice roll: Anything lower than 5/5 STR/DEX is good enough really, don’t stress over it. One thing to watch out for is that your LUK doesn’t exceed 8 or 9. Why?

Because the recommended AP distribution is to all-in on INT. This is because for mages, 1 INT = 1 Magic Attack (hereby MA). Thereby, unlike other classes, instead of being forced to acknowledge and calibrate your secondary stat (in this case, LUK) to equip better weapons and equipment, you can just dump all your AP into INT.

Putting AP into LUK will allow you to equip higher level mage gears, which could be fun. Unfortunately, with the release of maple weapons, and the pitiful benefits that improved weapon/magic defense provides, fun is all you’re having.


First Job (Introduction to Magic):

You are a mage.

S.P.
Energy Bolt [1]
Improved MP Recovery [5]
Improved Max MP Increase [10]
Magic Claw [20]
Magic Guard [20]
Magic Armour [10]

1 Level of energy bolt will carry you just fine while you max your Max MP Increase. I personally recommend Armour because +20~40 W.Def is considerable, albeit early game only.

Training:

8-12: Grendolf’s beginner quests. Thankfully, the monsters that you are supposed to hunt can actually be found in abundance near your job advisor (cough cough Retardthena).

12-20: Grind @ the mini-dungeon “Henesys Pig Farm”, in conjunction with Nautilus quests.

20-30: Start by heading to Kerning city and performing genocide on Bubblings, which have 240 HP, a substantial upgrade from Pigs. Thankfully, Level 20 Magic Claw is OP and you will most likely be 1 shotting them. Unless you’re having fun.

The Remember quests alone will provide you with more than enough potions to get you to Level 30, as well as awesome exp. While you’re doing the Evil Eye quest, make sure to loot 50 Evil Eye Tails. Post completion, return to Nautilus and complete “Lazy Little Calico” and “Strange Dish”.

Grind out whatever remains at Wild Boars or Ant Tunnel.

Where is KPQ? KPQ can indeed be very good EXP, with potential to obtain items such as bamboo hats or Overall for Int 10%s. However, it can be quite a challenge to find a good party, especially if you play in an awkward time-zone like me (Australia). My suggestion is that you buy some KPQ return scrolls, check if there is a KPQ party, and if there isn’t, do some of the quests listed above and repeat.

Tips:

- Buy Town portal scrolls of each town.
- Try to purchase a clean Bath Robe from the Free Market, they will cost around 70-100k mesos.


Second Job (Ice & Lightning Basics):

You are an Ice and Lightning Wizard.

I mean like, what did you expect.

S.P.:
Teleport [1]
Thunderbolt [30]
Meditation [20]
MP Eater [20]
Teleport [20]
Whatever [30]

Teleport drastically improves your mobility & training, but note the high MP cost.

My personal take would be to not use TB until you have a decent level of SP in it, as it could be depressing to see your primary skill for the next 40 levels do <100 damage. Your mentality is precious.

As for what you wish to skill post teleport, you could go back to max your 1st job skills or level Cold Beam or Slow. I suggest at least putting 1 in each of the latter. Y’know, because we’re Arch mages, and we use a wide variety of magical skills.

Training:

30-35: Ariant quests. If you are stuck at completing 2 Lidiums for Eleska, never fear. Complete “The Problems/Importance of Life Alchemy” in Magatia, both quests which give decent EXP + the mobs drop Lidium ores. Grind out the rest at Teddies/Sand Rats.

35-40/41: It’s time to LPQ. Learn JMS. Please.

41-50: Platoon Chronos @ Path of Time <1>.

41-55: Truckers @ Suburban Area 2. Credit to Legace

48-70: Ghost. Ship. 2. Even if you go there early, and miss a lot of your attacks, it’s worth it.

Tips:

- Try to buy a 35/43 Maple Staff. Doesn’t need to be godly, and you don’t need both either. Even the affordable grey ones will be a big upgrade from your beginner wand and will get you through 2nd job. No need for a 64 wand, because...

- At 70, you will need to purchase your first major item, the Elemental Wand 3 or 4. There is a nice guide by Animate on why these wands are so good, but I don’t know how to link because I am an idiot, so please google it on your own. A decent clean/scrolled Elemental Wand 3 should cost around 5-10 million mesos.

- LPQ is the first place where you will really bond with people. These friendships are what have propelled me to continue playing this, let’s be honest, unbalanced-outdated-2D-single-dimensional-repetitive-back-breaking-spine-straightening-but-nostalgia-so-still-masterpiece game, and are what will make Legends worth playing in the long run. The same applies with people you encounter at GS2 as well: despite being a highly contested map, if you open with a smile and ask to party, or maybe ask when they might be taking a break, you can easily make grinding partners and friends, get invited to guilds, etc., which makes your Mapling experience just so much more colourful.


Third Job (Advanced Ice & Lightning):

You are an Ice and Lightning Mage.

S.P.:
Element Amplification [1]
Ice Strike [30]
Spell Booster [11]
Elemental Amplification [30]
Spell Booster [20]
Thunder Spear or Element Composition (recommended) [30]
Seal [20]
Partial Resistance [20]

At 19 SP and onwards, Ice Strike will be able to hit multiple platforms at some key training locations, namely GS2, Galloperas, and Petrifighters.

Skill Booster to 11, because this is when your casting speed will be increased to +2.

Element Composition is much faster than Thunder Spear, but both look awesome and both are rather useless, so take your pick.

I actually found Seal to be a helpful skill in cancelling revenge attacks, not to mention it’s more fun using a combination of skills to train. Unless you have more than 50 base LUK, of course, by then which you’re having fun by default.

Training:

70-90: Back to GS2. Once your Ice Strike can 2 shot Slimys, you have the potential to clear the map solo before respawn kicks in.

75-90: Wolf-Spider Cavern can be crazy EXP, the only challenge is finding a good party/priest to grind with.

85-120: Galloperas are simply awesome. The $$$ and EXP were so good I personally grinded here straight 90-120. Ice Strike again lets you hit two platforms. They drop GFA and Bot DEX 60%s. There will be many priests there, now actively looking for partners, so even if you were a bit anti-social at GS2 you will still likely be able to make Priest-friends. Why am I still talking. Get to Gallos.

100-120: Petrifighters are very good in terms of EXP only. 2.8k damage + they are massive, and will deny you passage in every f*cking conceivable fashion. You will likely feel very frustrated trying to move around the map, unless you have a bathrobe + speed scrolled shoes(?). Hence, I don’t recommend here unless you have a 2-3 man party + priest.

Tips:

Create a mule that is parked in NLC, so that you don’t have to constantly go back to purchase Mana Bulls. If you haven’t switched to Mana Bulls, switch to Mana Bulls.


Fourth Job (Highest Class of Magic, I & L):

You are an Ice and Lightning Arch-mage.



Okay fine, you get a high-five. Not too hard. *tap*

S.P.:
Blizzard [3]
Blizzard [4/7/10]
Maple Warrior [9]
Blizzard [16/19/30]
Maple Warrior [19]
Chain Lightning [30]
Ice Demon [5]
Ifrit [30]
Ice Demon [30]
Whatever

Blizzard. Producer of many excellent games, such as Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo II, Overwa-



The primary skill of an I/L AM. Before we unravel this any further, please consider the formula below:

Minimal Magical Damage = [(Magic*2/1000 + Magic x Mastery x 0.9)/30 + INT/200] x Basic Attack x Ele Amp x Ele Wand Bonus.

I have found that the minimal damage seems to be a little higher, but technically you’re never going to get the MINIMAL damage possible when your Blizz ranges over 10k, and that formula looks very legit, so let’s press on.

If we were to postulate that an I/L AM has 700 total INT, 900 Magic, Ele wand 7 and Blizzard 9, his MMM would be:

[(900*2/1000 + 900 x 0.25 x 0.9)/30 + 700/200] x 410 x 1.35 x 1.25 = 25,772.

This MMM value is extremely important, because as an AM you will spend most of your time Blizzing EXP-rich maps, such as Ulu 2 or Petrifighters. And as Blizzard takes around 3-5 seconds to cast, depending on your delay, the difference between 1 vs. 2 vs. 3-shotting is tremendous, especially once spawn-rates are taken into consideration.

Not to mention that each Blizzard costs what I like to call a ‘1-Mana-Bull-per-Blizzard’ amount of mana. You will be happy to know that this value increases by 200 each SP until Bliz 20. This is doubled yet again due to EA. At Lv. 20 Blizzard, you’re using 8000 MP per cast. Not fun. Unless you have LUK, by then which-



Basically, you want to make every Blizzard count. There are multiple ways to address the mana issue, later discussed, but for now let us refocus on the MnM formula. Upon inspection, you can see that the components that most significantly impact the Eminem are sweaty palms, weak knees, heavy arms, mom’s spaghe-



Are Magic, Mastery and Basic Attack. A quick bbb search on magic skills will tell you that for skills with 30 SP, mastery increases by 5% every 3 SP, and Basic Attacks by a set amount. Hence, you will want to keep your Blizzard at levels that proc the extra 5% mastery, on Lv. 1, 4, 7, and so on.

As for Magic, this is when you once again reap the benefits of going all-in on INT. Even a MW 9 will increase, say, a 700 base INT to 763, an extra 63 MA. Balance.

Put this all together, along with the fact that the ideal place for early level AMs to train will be @ Ulu 2, where the stronger mob, Slygie, has 49k HP, and you can see why I suggest holding Blizzard at 4/7 and upping MW to 9 instead: in fact, I suggest that you continue to hold it there until you can 1-shot Ulu 2 or 2-shot Petrifighters (80k HP). This will likely involve Blizzard 19, MW 9, and your 130 Ele Wand 7; instead of wasting extra MP, it is much better, from an economic viewpoint, to keep the minimum level of Blizz that lets you 2 shot Ulu 2 90%+.

The reason why the rest of the SP build isn’t concrete is because most people (myself included) are unlikely to be able to afford Blizzard 30 or MW 20 in a timely fashion, which currently cost 300m/1b respectively. But you don’t really want to sit on Blizz 1-4 until you’ve farmed 300 m either, so you must find the timing for yourself when you can reliably add 10-15 SP into Blizzard to 1-shot Ulu 2 or 2-shot Petris.

Aside from trying to save up for Blizzard 30/MW 20, Chain Lightning will be your best single-target spell.

Ifrit provides some additional damage for bossing, and revenge-kills mobs that survive Blizzard once you might be close to 1-shotting Petris.

Training:

120-130: Ulu 2

130-200: Petrifighters, Skeles, Ulu 2 (for leech). Key drops at Petrifighters: Shoes for Speed 60%.

Tips:

HS Mule: You will likely want to create a HS mule once you hit 123+, as you will no longer be naturally finding Priest-partners in Ulu 2 /Petris, and your P-Ps will eventually become cancer- I mean bishops. If you wish to sell leech or leech another character of your own, a HS mule is integral.

Addressing Blizzard’s mana Issue: G̶e̶t̶ ̶B̶r̶i̶l̶l̶i̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶r̶a̶. Once you start feeling the $$ pot drain from Blizzard, you may wish to create a Hyper Body Mule to increase your Max MP by 60%. The minimum level for your spearman to have maxed HB is 41, so it’s not too bad.

However, be warned: you will be an unwanted liability in LPQ as you can’t hit pretty much anything for any damage with this build. This is a serious issue that you will be helpless to deal with, and will likely ruin your entire Legends experience. Thankfully, you have the option to buy my accuracy Fish Spear which is currently priced at 1.2m, FM 4 top right, which has not been sold for 2 weeks.

Another method is to MP wash your AM a little, a concept made known to me by ApplePie, or A-God, where you put your level-up AP into MP. You then take it out by using an AP Reset to put back into INT, and WALA, you’re somehow left with extra MP. Yea I don’t get it either, search A-God’s thread.

Key Purchases:

Your priority will be on le Elemental Wand 7, which will range from 5-30 m clean, depending on its stats. I suggest buying a cheap one (remember, 1 level = 5 MA) and scrolling it safely with 60%s to get yourself going.

If you are achieving the desired 1/2-shot with around 60-80% success, a Scarlion helmet will provide you with a nice 13-15 INT buff for 25-35m. The reason for choosing a Scarlion helmet is because Targa helmets only give 3-4 more INT, whilst the price jumps up to 60m+. Zakum helmets are only useful when you are HP washing and want the 15 INT at Lv. 50.

Blizzard 20/30 for 2.5-5m/300m. MW20 for 1b…

End game equips:

After purchasing Ele 7 and Blizz 20 (and a Scar Hat if applicable), it is finally logical to start purchasing scrolls/scrolled INT equipment to bolster your MA. The nice things about INT equips are that if you scroll common equipment, you will be able to use them for HP washing another character as well as for your I/L AM, or sell them for a hefty price, since people are always looking for washing equipment. Con is that they are expensive to purchase in the first place.

I have listed the equipment/scrolls by efficiency, where you gain the most INT/MA for the least investment, as well as what you should aim for as END-GAME equipment. Note: the end-game standards I’ve set aren’t godlike, just what you would want to have as a 4th job mage.

Overall: time to finally scroll that bathrobe you’ve been wearing all game. Say your farewells, because you are 99% booming/throwing it out.

End-game: >22.5374(?) INT Bathrobes.

Earring: earring scrolls are a little pricier than cape scrolls, but they provide +2MA/+1INT compared to the capes’ +2 INT. Hence, if you wish to focus on washing another character, you may want to scroll your cape first. The 30 and 10%s are what make earrings worth investing in, as they give a sexy +5 MA/+3 INT.

End-game: >17 TMA (Total Magic Attack, INT + MA) Earrings, preferably lower-level so that other characters can equip them earlier.

Cape: You have two choices for your cape: the purple capes, which naturally have 4-8 MA, and the yellow capes, which have 8 slots. The purple capes will be much easier and cheaper to scroll, as you only have to land 5 scrolls, but the yellow capes are obviously much more beneficial for washing purposes. FYI̶F, LUK cape scrolls are cheap. Boy I cannot this go can I.

End-game: >18 TMA for purple capes, >14 INT for yellow capes.

Gloves: glove MA scrolls aren’t great because they are quite pricey, and the 60%s only give a +1/+1. However, the 30%s still give +3/+3, so if you can land 2 of those, you’re set.

End-game: >14 TMA for work gloves, >18 TMA for brown WGs/yellow markers.

Shield: shield scrolls are VERY pricey, and there are only 30/70%s in Legends, meaning that there is always a risk to boom them. My advice would be to scroll an Esther shield with 3 INT, or a stolen fence for washing. Maple shields for the hard-cores.

End-game: >25 TMA for maple shields, >20 TMA for Esther shields.

Pendant: there are two pendants in this game: Silver Deputy Stars, and Porntail Hendants. The prior is quite popular with other classes, but for mages it’s not worth the investment, nor is it feasible for us to kill Headless Horsemen or Bigfoots. Horntail Pendants + eggs are extremely pricey, ~200m, and for good reason too. ~+22 all stats. However, I don’t think any mage would bother getting a HTP.

End-game: N/A. Yes this entire section is useless, I created it to make the Porntail Hendant pun.

Helm: Before you embark on the epic journey of creating an end-game weapon, you may wish to return for a Targa-INT helm and scroll it. Even though you can’t trade this, +18/10 slots is a lot to work with.

End-game: >30 INT Targa-INT Helm.

Wand: End-game weapons for mages aren’t as crucial as they are for Weapon Attack classes, but it’s still fun to scroll stuff that you don’t really need. You may also wish to scroll an Ele Wand 8 if you can already 1-shot Petris, as this will make your CL hit harder for bosses.

End-game: >170 TMA Elemental Wand 7/8.

Shoes: Yellow snow-shoes give ~4 INT for + 40m and can be cute. Or, you could use some of those sexy Shoes for Speed 60%s, on some Blue Snowshoes, for a >12 Speed shoes. Game-changing.

Eye: Raccoon Mask so Kawaii! Also why is this word registered in Microsoft Word.




Thanks for reading! I hope you had FU-

 

I wasn't familiar with that particular grinding spot, I'm a bit single-headed when it comes to grinding. After looking at the HP/EXP ratio and checking out the spot, I agree this map could be really nice! Thanks for the heads up, I'll add it.

 

MP recovery definitely is more useful than Magic Guard late-game, but their applicability is like 1vs.0/1000: Magic Armour is useless like you mentioned, but 200-300 MP doesn't really do anything either when your using ~10000 MP every few seconds (tank 1-2 hit from Petris + Lv. 20 Blizzard). Hence, they only matter in the early-mid game to start with. And when you consider that early levels in Magic Armour actually does a lot for you early game, as mobs hitting for 80-100 go down to 50-60, I think Magic Armour does a little more.

But I also agree that MP recovery is equally nice early-game AND it still functions late-game as a passive. Really just comes down to preference.

 

Spoiler

though I like F/P mages better

[/QUOTE]

Me too. They're fun.

 

Oh yeah, early game magic armor at most reduces damage by wdef/2. So looking at a 20 damage reduction. Late game the wdef formula is weird, and maybe you get 3/4 reduction from your wdef... still isn't all that much haha.[/QUOTE]

Interesting, I always thought they were a 1/1 ratio. Not that it matters, sadly. I wish W.DEF had more impact late game so there would actually be incentives to up your secondary stat and try to equip 100 armours.