Allods Online Forum

Hello everyone!

My name is Athenna and I'm an end game Xadaganian Mage in Monsters Inc. I'm originally from the NA server and I'll be going over one of the many builds I use; PvE - Double Icy Grave Astral Build.

The Mage is a very interesting class to play. We are able to deal a great amount of ranged burst damage, cc multiple targets, as well as move around quickly. In a PvE (Player vs Environment) setting, the Mage is a very easy class to play. Unfortunately, in a PvP (Player vs Player) settings things get a little more complicated due to our "squishiness." If a mage isn't careful they can easily be killed, it takes a lot of time, practice and awareness to try and survive. This is one of the many reasons I truly enjoy playing a Mage, you have to be alert of your surroundings, it just keeps you on your toes and just makes everything more interesting!

Crowd Control effects (CC) are typically used to stop the enemy from being able to perform any actions. This is where I, as a mage, come in and play the role of being the main CCer in my astral party. Before a pull is made it is my job to choose the correct target to CC using the Icy Grave talent. By doing this, it makes each and every pull easier to deal with! Icy grave is a very strong and stable CC, it will not break if the target is hit (at least until the frozen target's health drops below 90%). Unlike some long term CC from other classes, Icy Grave can be casted on an enemy no matter what their health is. If a target has 50% health a Mage can CC it just like the Mage would be able to CC a target with 100% health, the only down side to that is any hit at that point (once enemy's health drops below 90%) will break the CC.

Patch Changes

The Heart of the World patch brought no major changes to the Mage. There was one minor change, which was changing skills in our ruby grids to incorporate the new stat system introduces with this patch. These minor changes had no effect on my builds or play style.

The "Sage's Intelligence" rubies used to increase the Mage's Intelligence and now increases the Mage's Vigor.
The "Master of Intuition" rubies used to increase Perception, and now increase Proficiency.
The "Hardened in Flames" rubies increase Willpower. No Change.
The "Adherent's Determination" rubies used to increase Wisdom, and now increase Brutality.
The "Stotic Soul" rubies used to increase Conviction, and now increase Vitality.
The "Blazing Speed" rubies used to increase Agility, and no increase Anger.

Build


As mentioned above, the builds I'll be discussing is my PvE - Double Icy Grave Astral Build.

Talents

Shocking Grasp: An instant electrical damage spell, no cast time and no cooldown, which uses courage relics. This spell will deal 100% more damage when the target's health is lower than 25%. There are rubies to increase the range and damage percentage of this spell. This spell deals a large amount of damage when the target's health is lower than 25% (can deal a 1000k+ strike in an instant!).

Frostbolt: A 2 second cast with no cooldown ice damage spell which uses cunning relics. This is one of the spells that are "spammed" during a Mage's attack rotation / spell cycle. There are rubies that decrease the cast time of this spell to 1 second.

Stone Barrier and Stone Wall: Stone Wall is an upgraded version of Stone Barrier, however in order to get Stone Wall, you must get Stone Barrier as a base. These spells do the same job, they absorb physical damage dealt to the Mage. Depending on the rank you choose, a set amount of stacks of this effect will be placed on you; each stack will absorb some amount of physical damage dealt to the Mage. The amount of physical damage absorbed by each stack depends on both your Proficiency and Vigor. Since Stone Wall is the upgraded version, this is the spell you should be using. This spell is essential for a Mage's survival, without them, without doubt, a Mage can die very easily. Once all the stacks of Stone Wall have been completely broken a 45 second cooldown (can be reduced to 30 with rubies) will start as long as you are in combat; once out of combat the cooldown will be reset.

Icy Comet and Icy Meteor: 1/1.5 second cast time (respectively) with a 10 second cooldown (there are rubies to decrease mana cost and cooldown to 5 seconds) ice damage spells, which use power relics. Icy Meteor is the upgraded version of Icy Comet; Icy Meteor is an AoE (Area of Effect - damages multiple targets in a certain area) version of Icy Comet, whereas Icy Comet is a single target attack. This spell is a 50 yard range attack which has the ability to literally turn around walls / obstacles to reach a target and is one of the biggest burst attacks a Mage has. Requires 2 and 3 Ice force points respectively.

Thunderbolt: A 2 second cast with no cooldown electrical damage spell which uses fortitude relics. This is the other spell that is "spammed" during a Mage's attack rotation / spell cycle. There are rubies that decrease the cast time of this spell to 1 second.

Elemental Shield: This spell works almost the same way Stone Barrier / Wall does; however this spell absorbs magical damage dealt to the Mage. Depending on the rank you choose, a set amount of stacks of this effect will be placed on you; each stack will absorb some amount of magical damage dealt to the Mage. The amount of magical damage absorbed by each stack depends on both your Proficiency and Vigor. This spell is essential for a Mage's survival, without them, a Mage can die very easily. Once all the stacks of Elemental Shield have been completely broken a 45 second cooldown (can be reduced to 30 with rubies) will start as long as you are in combat; once out of combat the cooldown will be reset.

Icy Grave: At rank 2, this spell is a 2.1 second cast time with a 6 second cooldown which will freeze a PvE target completely for 50 seconds; making them unable to move or attack. With rubies it will also freeze a random secondary target within 10 yards. This is used to decrease the amount of PvE enemies attacking you or your group members keeping them frozen while you kill other enemies. This is a very essential spell to have when dealing with a number of hard PvE enemies.

Reflections: At rank 3, this is an instant cast spell with a cooldown of 1 minute. It will put up 5 stacks of "reflections" for 15 seconds on the Mage which have a high chance to completely absorb any incoming attack (very large or very small hits). There are rubies for this spell which increase the stack count from 5 to 8, increase the time from 15 seconds to 18 seconds, as well as generate approximately 6500 mana. Due to the Mage's large amount of burst damage, we can sometimes pull a boss or mob (normal PvE enemy). This is when Reflections are essential, as a Mage you cannot take too much damage or you will die, by using reflections you buy yourself some time to stay alive while the tank pulls the boss or mob(s) off of you.

Seal of Health: A 2 second cast time spell which will increase the maximum health and mana / energy pool of everyone in your party (including yourself) for 30 minutes. Unlike a Bard's version of this spell, the Mage's seal will remain on each party member even after a Mage is killed; however this spell can be removed or dispelled in PvP, but in PvE it cannot. Therefore, a Mage's Seal > Bard's Seal.

Electric Pulse and Thunderhead: 3.5 second cast time with no cooldown (there are rubies to increase damage, decrease mana cost and cast time to 3.5 seconds) electrical damage spells, which use nobility relics. Thunderhead is the upgraded version of Electric Pulse; Thunderhead is an AoE version of Electric Pulse, whereas Electic Pulse is a single target attack. These spells are usually the highest overall damage spell at the end of a long fight. Requires 2 and 3 Lightning force
points respectively.

Elemental Surge: An 8 second cast time with a 1 minute cooldown astral damage spell, which uses power relics. This spell has a very long cast time, but is an AoE spell that deals a large amount of damage and knocks down all targets within its range for 2 seconds. This is a nice spell to start a pull; due to its long time, by the time it deals damage the tank should be able to pick up agro on all mobs in the pull. It does very high damage as well as knocks enemies down. This spell needs dragon tears in order to work. The higher the quality of the tears (rare, epic, legend etc.) the higher the damage you deal.

Rubies

Fire Grid:

Propitious Magic: Increases your luck, which results in critical hits. The more crits you hit the higher the damage you do.

Ice Grid:

Ice Tomb: These are the rubies that will cause a secondary Icy Grave to freeze a random secondary enemy within a 10 yard range of the one the mage chooses to CC. Tip: If you or someone in your party has TK pull (Psi reinc skill) pull 2 mobs to the side and CC them both.

Icy Avalanche: Decrease the mana cost of Icy Comet / Meteor. This isn't really essential, but they are the best way to reach the Ice Tomb rubies without wasting rubies on empty squares.

Hailstorm: A secondary Icy Comet / Meteor will be casted along with your first one; however, it cannot result in a critical hit. These are nice rubies to have because they help further increase the amount of "burst" damage you can deal.

Master of Intuition: Increase your Proficiency by 9 points, which is equivalent to having an elixir popped. The more stats you have the better the damage you deal will be.

Sleet: These rubies decrease the cooldown time on your Icy Comet / Meteor from 10 seconds to 5 seconds. Although this may seem like a minor change, they are great to have again for the "burst" damage as well as easily fitting all force point reliant spells within the 30 second window you have.

Chains of Ice: This ruby is nice to have because it will freeze all mobs within a 10 yard radius of the mage. If you, or someone in your party is being chased by a number of mobs, you can stop the mobs from moving for 10 seconds to give yourself, or your party member(s) time to get away. Requires 1 Ice force point.

Snow Dam: These are rubies that increase the reflection spell stack count from 5 to 8, increase the time from 15 seconds to 18 seconds, as well as generate approximately 6500 mana. Mages can't take too much damage, so to help us avoid some incoming damage these rubies are very helpful.

Northern Lights: These rubies decrease the cast time of the Frostbolt spell from 2 seconds to 1 second. A mage will get a maximum of 5 stacks of this buff, which generate a new stack every 6 seconds of combat. Ideally, a mage will wait until they have 5 stacks of this buff and then cast 5 Frostbolts in 5 seconds; instead of 5 Frostbolts in 10 seconds.

War of Elements - Icy Lightning: There are 4 of these rubies, (2 on the Ice grid and 2 on the
Lightning Grid). These rubies will generate 1 additional force point for each Ice and Lightning every time a mage's force points cycle restarts (every 30 seconds). This means a mage will usually always have at least 2 of each force points (Ice and Lightning).

Frosty Advantage: These rubies increase the non-critical hit damage of a mage's ice spells by 15%. Dealing a critical hit does not happen often, so having rubies that will deal more damage when a mage is not critting just increases the damage a mage can deal.


Adherent's Determination: Increase your Brutality by 9 points, which is equivalent to having an elixir popped. The more stats you have the better the damage you deal will be.

Intense Cold: These rubies will increase all frost damage spell damage by 12%. These rubies are similar to the Frosty Advantage, but they also work on frost spell critical hit damage; resulting in even more damage!

Lightning Grid:

Unstable Energy: These rubies will increase all Lightning damage spell damage by 15%.

Lightning Jolt: At the start of each Elemental Cycle (Force Points Cycle) the mage will get a buff that will increase the range of the next shocking grasp by 100% as well as the damage of it by 600%. This will result in the shocking grasp spell to deal much higher damage every time a cycle restarts, if used when an enemy's health is under 25% a mage can actually deal 1000k+ damage.

Thundering Advantage: These rubies decrease the cast time of the Thunderbolt spell from 2 seconds to 1 second. A mage will get a maximum of 5 stacks of this buff, which generate a new stack every 6 seconds of combat. Ideally, a mage will wait until they have 5 stacks of this buff and then cast 5 Thunderbolts in 5 seconds; instead of 5 Thunderbolts in 10 seconds.

Dynamo Effect: These rubies decrease the mana cost and cast time of Electric Pulse / Thunderhead by 30%. Electric Pulse / Thunderhead without these rubies have approx 1500 and 2900 mana cost respectively, with these rubies the mana cost goes down to approx 1000 and 2000 respectively. The more mana you save, the longer you can cast spells for. The decreased cast time (5 seconds to 3.5 seconds) also helps the mage fit as many attacks as they can within each 30 second Elemental Cycle.

Sage's Intelligence: Increase the Mage's Intelligence Vigor by 9%. The more stats you have the better the damage you deal will be.

Elemental Wrath: This rubies will generate 5 random force points for a mage; however may not be used if a mage has at least 2 force points of any kind in high force point "bank." Sometimes an Elemental Cycle gives a mage a small amount of force points, which can be used up very quickly. Force points are needed to use spell that typically deal the most damage (Icy Comet / Meteor and Electric Pulse / Thunderhead), so when a mage runs out of force points too early, this spell comes in handy.

Cascade: These rubies increase the damage of each subsequent charge of Electric Pulse / Thunderhead by 15%. These spells will "shoot" out 4 charge of electrical damage, and these rubies will increase the damage of each charge "shot" by 15%. The more damage you deal, the better.

Lethal Shock: These rubies will increase the damage dealt by shocking grasp by an additional 30% when the target's health goes under 25%. These rubies also contribute to the big damage strike a mage can deal with shocking grasp.

Positive Feedback: These rubies will increase the damage of all electrical damage critical hits, as well as reduce the cooldown of Elemental Sheild by 15 seconds. Since this build contains the luck rubies, you have a higher chance to deal critical hits and with these rubies that means more damage.

Play Style

First buff your party with the Seal of Health Buff. Second and most importantly either have Stone Wall or Elemental Shield casted on you before any fight starts. Depending on what type of damage the mob(s) you are fighting deal.

Force Point Bank:


Since this build is a CC build, the Mage typically wants to start off by telling their party members which mob he / she intends to CC. Once that is established start the fight by CCing the mob (try to choose a mob with another mob close by since this is a double CC build).

Now that the fight has started, you must decide how you should start attacking. The way a Mage chooses to start attacking really depends on the amount of force points in the Force Point Bank as well as the time left until the Elemental Cycle restarts. If the Elemental Cycle timer is about to reset start off by casting an Icy Comet (single target) or Metoer (multiple targets), followed by Elecrtic Pulse (single target) Thunderhead (multiple targets). Follow it up with an Elemental Surge (this long cast time will allow the mage to build up Northern Light and Thundering Advantage buff stacks). Keep an eye on your Elemental Cycle timer as well as the amount of force points you have, then decide whether you should use Icy Comet, Electric Pulse, or if you should spam Frostbolt / Thunderbolt until the buff stacks are used up. Try to avoid using Shocking Grasp until just before each Elemental Cycle is about to restart especially if the enemy's health is almost 25%. Do this, and repeat depending on the amount of force points you recieve during each Elemental Cycle.

If you happen to pull agro on a hard hitting mob, instantly use reflections to help you avoid taking any damage. Mages are very "squishy" and we cannot take too much damage.

Tips

Reinc Skill / Spells

Choose reinc skills / spell that will benefit you or the party. The more ideal reinc skills for a mage in PvE are:

Healer bubble: This is an instant cast skill with a 5 minute cooldown. It will absorb some amount of damage, remove any control effects on you and above all, cancel any agro you have generated while it is up.

Psi TK Pull: This is an instant cast skill with a 1 minute cooldown. It will pull 3 enemies anywhere the user chooses; this skill is great for this build since you can choose any mobs you wish to double CC, pull them to the side and CC them.


Racials / World Mystery Spells

Astral Aegis (Xadaganian Racial): This spell can be applied on the Mage, or any ally; it will protect the player with this buff from a physical attack. Once a physical attack is made to the person with this buff within 10 yard range, the enemy performing the physical attack will be thrown back 15 yards, get knocked down, and take a small amount of astral damage. This spell can be used on a tank if you see a healer is having a hard time; throwing a boss away from the tank will buy the healer a small chance to get the tank back up.

Arcane Mastery (Elven Racial): This spell will increase the Mage's vigor for 30% for one spell, lasts 30 seconds. A good time to use this spell is in combination with a trinket. For example, if shocking grasp is used when an enemy is under 25% hp in combination with a trinket proc and Arcane Mastery, a critical strike can result in over 2000k damage dealt instantly.


Sanctuary (Tensess Temple World Mystery): This spell will port the Mage and all party members to a safe place. In astral this is a great skill to save lives if something goes wrong. If the tank or healer die and the enemy still has a lot of health, or if the group is having a hard time; use this skill to teleport all party members to the ship.

Keep in mind this is an end game mage build. By this I mean you should have most (if not all) Teps Pyramid luck relics and most Item Shop items (extra rubies, talent points etc..) If you are lacking in any of these areas you can decrease the rank or completely ignore some spell / skills. For example, if you're lacking rubies / relics you don't need to get the Positive Feedback rubies. If you're lacking talent points, you don't need rank 3 Shocking Grasp.