Magician with luck is it really that bad ?

40 more luck is almost the difference between gen 20 and gen 30.
40 luck will delay where you can 1/2shot train/sell leech for 8 levels

the opportunity cost is pretty bad

 

Sorry, genesis skill for bishop. This is their end game map clearing ability.

To get the books to improve the skill from level 10 to level 20, and from level 20 to level 30 are very expensive.
I was saying, having 40 luk instead of int is kind of like having genesis 20 instead of the more powerful genesis 30, because you are now 40 magic weaker

 

40 magic is 8 levels worth of INT

 

It's definitely a min/max optimization thing

For example - what mages generally like to do on this server in the late game is sell leech.
The higher your magic, the sooner you can sell a higher tier of leech and make more mesos for your time.
Where you'll see the difference is when you're struggling to make up for that last couple points of magic to go from 2 shotting a mob to 1 shotting, which makes huge difference in the xp gain.

But ofc it's not necessary - You mentioned that you like to grind for the next level of gear, and that's great - honestly maple is what you make of it.
Luk mages will have less magic than lukless mages, but it's not unmanagable

 

nubjulez

 

Like Nrii said. If you were to add AP into LUK vs into INT you will be delaying your ability to one hit. This can be costly down the road. Like you said, lets say you do raise it another 40 LUK instead of pumping it into INT.

Assuming your gear doesn't change, you will be 8 levels away from being able to 1 hit a mob that you would of been able to 1 hit if you didn't had to LUK. I say it will be costly down the road because if you were on track to (for example) 1 hit petrifighters at lv165, instead you will be lv 173 to be able to 1 hit.

Being able to 1 hit asap will make you be able to level faster, and also sell leeches sooner.

 

Yo me and my LUK mage squad have NO REGRETS. WackyWarlock soggytaco
DO IT AND JOIN US~~~

Honestly, the difference isnt THAT huge. ​

 

I will tell you what's going on with ACTUAL NUMBERS of a lukless mage versus luk. I have a LUK mage with 100 LUK and making a LUKLESS NOW.

Remember how the guy a few posts above told you the difference of 40 AP is 8 levels? He's correct; the impact of that '8 levels' is HUGE.

TL;DR: For actual numbers/proof, keep reading further below -- but the long and short of it is: most LUKLess mages 1 hit the hottest monster for money making at level 165 @ level 30 4th job skill with little-to-no funding. Now add 8 levels to that. Level 173 is NOT an EASY-FAST GRIND; and all that time you spent trying to get to level 173 so that you could 'farm for mesos' -- the level 165 guy made ALL THAT MONEY in the mean-time! (difference of meso farming map and exp leveling map -- it's a real thing).

I will use the Goby map's Bombing Fish House (holds 6 gobies per house and usually about 4 ~ 6 houses; 1 attack releases about 20 gobies per cycle and they all drop mesos) as an example for that. The reason for using the Goby map as an example is because many people hunt it with mages to make the best time out of their meso farming (one of the best known farming locations); and I assume that is the reason you are playing mage -- to farm mesos and build wealth. Anyhow, you must destroy the Bombing Fish House so that it releases the gobies -- and then u attack the gobies and collect the meso drops. The only problem with this is the Bombing Fish House's 40,500 HP and high magic defense (MDef) of 530 make it hard to 1-hit ko to release the gobies (the gobies themselves are easy); you will need an exact number to 1 hit this thing to farm it with timely/high-efficiency rates. The more hits it takes to kill -- the less meso/hour is gained and worse -- the more mp is burned (potion costs eats up mesos/hour profit).

If we agree that 1 hit KO-ing/ highest mesos per hour is what we want out of this maple experience, then consider the following differences of a luk and lukless mage. According to a table used in Bella's Bishop Guide, it takes 1070 magic to 1 hit KO Veetron. I state Veetron (HP 42K/500MDef) because it has comparable stats to Bombing Fish House (Veetron was the only thing listed in the table that was near comparison). Figuratively speaking, lets say it takes around level 165 for a lukless mage to easily reach 1070 magic; stat-wise the mage @165 will have BASE 843 INT; and 1 INT = 1 MAGIC (YES IT DOES); add maple warrior 20 for that juicy 10% stat BONUS and u get a total INT of 927; now the rest is made up from gear; 1070 minus 927 = 143 magic required. That can EASILY be obtained with mediocre gear such as +22HT pendant, +25 Zhelm (slightly scrolled in this example), +30 int overall, .. oh wait we haven't even gotten to the weapon yet and we only need 66 MAGIC (so I could wear a lower level non-scrolled maple staff) as of right NOW?!? Let's just say a level 165 lukless mage can easily 1 HIT our target(s).

As for the LUK mage -- if you are going for the elemental staff (level 163) -- it has a high luk requirement; it requires 165 LUK and gives 178 magic attack. Okay lets run the numbers: a LUK mage at level 165 will have much less INT than a LUKless mage. In the case of my LUK mage -- I capped at 100 LUK and planned to use LUK scrolled equips in order to wear the level 163 staff. So I needed 65 LUK; I could get 25LUK from Zhelm (lightly scrolled); +22 LUK HT pendant; and a +15LUK/15INT overall (I only go to thirty-stat overall to make realistic mid-game development setting); the remaning LUK will be gotten from mage equips because LUK mages receive those bonuses from equips. Okay -- I just gained +15 INT from my overall, and 178 MAGIC from my staff and MW's BONUS from 747 BASE INT is 74 INT so we get a whopping MAGIC value of 1010!!!! Remember how we said 40 INT = 8 levels?? yeah... 1070 magic minus 1010 = 60 missing MAGIC aka 12 LEVELS behind the LUKLESS MAGE; so 165 + 12 MORE levels is 177. U READY FOR THAT NONSENSE GRIND?? What are you going to do after you used up a few equips on LUK to wear that fancy high MAtt staff??? U GUNNA 'PERFECT' scroll the rest of your gear??? I thought u wanted to MAKE money -- NOT SPEND IT.

Now you might argue that we haven't counted all the gears INT for this; and to that I will say -- yes at 165 a WELL FUNDED LUK mage can 1 HIT Gobies; but a WELL FUNDED LUKLESS mage will hit 1070 magic EVEN SOONER (because higher base INT and that means more INT FROM Maple Warrior).

The truth is -- the majority of LUKLESS mages actually start 1-hit farming the goby map much sooner than 165 because they should have enough funding at around 140/145 ish to scroll some decent stuff; this was a bottom-of-the-barrel kinda situation aka 'broke AF' situation. The painful reality is that it's even harder for luk mages than the situation described and that LUKLESS mages are making money much sooner than luk mages.

One thing that traps most people in is the prices -- LUK-mage staffs are DIRT cheap (cuz low demand) and those scrolls are even CHEAPER. But we did the math and you saw how much MAGIC you LOSE -- right?? U wanna do poor damage and lose mesos overall in the grander scheme of things??

Okay. Last note: DAMAGE FORMULA
LUK is NOT used for damage calculation:
Spell Damage:
MAX = ((Magic²/1000 + Magic)/30 + INT/200) * Spell Attack
MIN = ((Magic²/1000 + Magic * Mastery * 0.9)/30 + INT/200) * Spell Attack

However,
HEALING damage towards the UNDEAD DOES factor in LUK for damage -- but has no multiplier for itself -- it's low -- so it still loses to LUKLESS mages at the higher levels.

Heal Damage (credit to Russt//Devil's Sunrise for Target Multiplier function):
MAX = (INT * 1.2 + LUK) * Magic / 1000 * Target Multiplier
MIN = (INT * 0.3 + LUK) * Magic / 1000 * Target Multiplier

last argumentative thought: Did you want to make a mage that can farm mesos with the utmost efficiency as soon as possible -- or did you want to make a luk mage and wait EIGHT (but realistically MORE) levels of painful grinding that feels like utter despair when your 4th job skill costs almost as much to cast and takes 3~4 hits -- while your friends rake in the mesos by the 100 MILLIONS by the hour... YEAH. THINK ABOUT THAT.

last last note: I didn't count other pieces of equips for both LUK and LUKLESS because they would just cancel each other out; ie: if both are wearing +15 int then there is no difference between the two types.

last last last note: References

https://forum.maplelegends.com/index.php?threads/bellas-bishop-guide.7427/
https://ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/maplestory-formula-compilation/

super last note: I made a LUK mage here in 2016 XMAS to find out the hard way because my curiosity NEEDED TO KNOW FIRST-HAND. AND IT WAS satisfying. And if you read this far then I should tell you now -- you actually start adding luk -- towards level 200.... a story for another time .... MWAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA oh and. Thanks to Cozy for walking the path with me last year on this -- wherever you are ~~

EDIT: User Angbak has pointed out a realistic/cheaper equipment route:
Zak helm 25 int ~60m
Gen 20 ~ 60-120m (depending on how many times you fail)
20 int BR [BATHROBE] ~ 120m
165 TMA wand ~12m
Earrings 15 tma ~ 25m
Gloves 10 tma ~15m
Magician Elixir - 50k
Level 155 -- 792 Magic
MW10 -- 39 Magic
HTP [Horntail Pendant] 22 int -- 180m
7 int Racoon Mask ~ 30m

Total cost = 502m
Total = 1115 magic

^*I think tma means total magic attack (?) Thank you for this, Angbak.

 

If you think mage gear looks nice, you can always decorate yourself with nx equip, you get free 5k nx per day from voting you know.

 

Well, you will surely have the most defence of any mage at your level. I guess that counts for something! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I forgot to say one important thing and I don't know how you will feel about it; Your MP will be lower than a LUKLESS mage -- but your defense is higher. Let's say you are level 165 with LUK capped at 100; the MP difference between you and a LUKLESS mage will be roughly 1000MP +/- 200
(I made a spreadsheet here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ACLh-5UKQoXtAsG11_djlGhzXAEE6Yig0sA6CzDuims )

But if you are playing for the pure fun and enjoyment (because it really is fun to equip and sort) then all this doesn't matter!

There is a part of me that is the exact same way and that's why I wont delete my LUK mage -- cuz I likeeee ittttttt
I get more of the "nostalgic" feeling that I was looking for when playing the LUK mage.
Hey man! lemme add in game (or add me! ign: MrRogers ). I think I may have found me-self a buddy

 

Defense is not meaningless, not in end game either! Why do you think warriors like Achilles? (Mobs hit 15% less on you) More defense is always nice, when people say it's useless, they're usually talking about DEF scrolls :b

I support your choice of becoming a LUK mage, it's what you make of it c: Being unique is nice too

 

Clerics have bless that overwrite magic armor, also you'll be using magic claw for the first few levels as a cleric!

 

I think the OP is like me; I used to put 1 point into magic armor for the same reason I put points into a Page's threaten skill -- I like to spam skills hehehehe xD