Primate Murder
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Welcome back!
First of all, I should mention that the stat cap has been raised to 250. This means that meta FO mages have 250 Int/Dex/Luck.
Secondly, a number of subraces have been revamped to have a full 10 skills. As an FO mage, you'd probably want to go Vampire, as it has an Int drive, a quickcast (doesn't cost a turn) stun and an Evolved Form with high damage, lifesteal and a sustainable upkeep. After you complete the advanced subrace quest in Darkovia, you'll gain a second no-drop in the form of your subrace transformation. Safiria's shop has alt-element variants of the armor.
Next, I suggest you check out Commonly Used Strategies, particularly the Purple Rain loop. The basic idea of the modern meta is to stun-lock the monster, then crush it with powerful ele-comped skills. Maximum damage at minimum risk.
Now, without further ado:
Weapons
I would suggest switching your no-drop element to darkness (as no-drop Vamp armor covers that) and aligning your Awe special to PWD for a 3% chance of instantly killing the monster.
Arcane Cutlass of Combustion gives all your fire spells +28% damage. If you don't have a spare UR, Pyromancer's Bloodblade (coming to the Void in a few months) or Blazing Bloodzerker Blade (Rare GGB) pay hp for a boost to your weapon attacks and fire spells.
If you plan on getting Hydromancer Bloodmage, get Tsunami Pen, as it providesa multiplicative damage boost to all your water spells. If not, Hydromancer's Bloodblade (Rare GGB) is a water clone of pyromancer's.
Arcane Cutlass of Gales (wind copy of Combustion Cutlass) is BiS wind spellbooster. If you don't have a spare UR, Haunted Dragonlord's Insight heals some mp on every hit.
Arctic Athame provides a nice damage boost to your ice spells. If you don't plan on getting Cryomancer Bloodmage anytime soon, however, Cryomancer Bloodblade would serve you better.
Terra Bloodzerker blade gives an hp-costing damage boost to your weapon attacks and earth spells. If you don't have a spare Rare GGB, you can choose between Arcane Troll Club (toggle to increase weapon damage at expense of accuracy) and Mutant King Club (compresses an elelocked earth armor with a skill).
Frostval's Decorate the Tree quest (in Today's Event) still has last year's weapons. Lord of Thunder's Staff toggles between inflicting Burn for an hp cost and sacrificing damage to autohit - a very nice utility weapon.
Arcane Cutlass of Radiance (light copy of Combustion) provides a very nice boost to the damage of your light spells. If you don't have a spare UR, Morningstar Occult Cross pairs nicely with Vamp's Evolved Form, giving you a nuke that requires neither mp nor stunning the monster.
Armors
The meta focuses on armors with powerful elecomped skills. As such, the best mage armors would be the Bloodmages - 50% extra spell damage for an hp cost and a compressed spell with a high elecomp. Pyromancer comes to the Void in a few months, and Hydromancer, Cryomancer and Dynamancer are in UR GGBs. If you don't have the URs, your Moglord, Horo Show and Taladosian are the next best options. For fire, while you wait for the Pyromancer to return, you can use either War's Legacy (spell-type fire skill) or Torontosaurus Rex (8-hit skill has great synergy with Haunted DL weapon).
Haunted Dragonlord Armor has a powerful and accurate spell-type skill.
Terra Bloodzerker is the best available earth armor, with an hp-costing damage bonus to weapon attacks and a 2x damage elelock toggle. It is a UR, though. If you don't have one to spare, either Mutant King Form (from the Mutant King Club) or Cthonian Count (alt-element vampire) are good enough options.
Paladin is the first (and only) endgame class, complete with a full 20 skills. It has healing, ressurection, a light booster guest, several useful bonuses against Undead and one of the strongest light nukes in the game (Inner Light > Overwhelming Light). I highly recommend it for any dedicated AQ player.
Shields
The shield from this year's Frostval has a qc 1/battle skill that pays sp to reduce the fire damage you take and restore some mp for 3 rounds.
Celtic Wheel remains the best option for nuke mages.
Haunted DL's Will gives you a qc sp-costing Barrier - great synergy with Purple Rain.
Pies has a Cha drive, which boosts your damage by enhancing the booster pet and guest.
Golem Guard has a small damage reduction toggle. At Harvest Fest you can get Serenia's Guard, which heals a bit of mp each time you're hit.
Mystic Father Time is an energy clone of the Father Time shield.
Scarab Shell has a toggle to lower monster MRM, increasing the accuracy of all your attacks and spells.
Spells
Your armor nukes, as a rule, will be stronger than any generic spell. As such, there are only a few damage spells worth looking at:
- Warmaster's Burst and your D-Burst deal +50% damage for an hp cost.
- Sizzler 'Splosion sacrifices some damage, but autohits - useful against high MRM wind mobs.
- Knife to Meat You is a qc, 1/battle earth damage spell. Only available at Mogloween.
- Archmage Research or Runic Binding give you a source of Harm damage.
Poelala guest does no damage by itself, but boosts the damage of your magical attacks and spells. As of this week, we also have elemental boosters (higher boost, but only for their element) for fire, ice, darkness and energy (UR GGBs).
Gandolphin gives you a qc Mana Shield. With Generalist Robes (Imbue toggled on), it has incredible efficiency, acting as a substitute to your End.
Purple Rain is one of the most useful meta spells, to the point where there's an entire strategy build around it (see Purple Rain Loop in Commonly Used Strategies linked above). It acts as a save point - cast it once to save your current sp/mp/hp, then cast all your buffs (like Moonwalker's Grace and SFP) and debuffs (like Mesmerize and Love Potion), then cast Purple Rain again to return your sp/mp/hp back. Here are some spells you can cast inside the PR loop:
- New Year's Surprise. Qc accuracy boost.
- Moonwalker's Grace. Qc Dex booster.
- Edoc Imanok. Qc MRM boost, enhances your blocking.
- Dragonguard Invocation. Makes your next attack an automatic Lucky Strike. Not qc.
Pets
At 0 Cha, you have little reason to use anything except Poelala.
Miscs
Essence Orb should be your first priority. The misc allows you to turn your hp into sp, fueling a wide variety of nukes and effects.
Rejuvenating Necklace gives mp based on damage dealt. A great way to ensure you always have mana to cast a spell.
Shadowfeeder Pendant is one of the best meta enablers - by clicking on it, you can get qc celerity; great synergy with Purple Rain and any elecomped nukes. Love Potion is another great meta misc (qc control), but it only comes back at Snugglefest.
Elemental resistance miscs are not really meta anymore - you tend to end up killing the monster long before they make any difference. If you want a safety net, though, Cyclop's Eye covers all the elements in one slot.
Goggernaut Helm gives +10 bth to every attack on the field, without the usual /2 for spells.
Grakma Warhorn's Berserk gives a notable damage bonus (not /2 for spells, making it the strongest spell booster), but at the expense of accuracy. Eye of Osiris (Int and bth) or Murderator Gauntlet (Int and control chance) are some nice alternatives.
Taladosian Pendant gives Mental Potence, increasing your chances of inflicting Vamp's Mesmerize.
Morningstar Helm gives immunity to paralysis. If you want something a little more sp-efficient, Blood Ruby and Liquid Courage give resistances to paralysis and fear respectively.
Hope the info's useful and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!
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