Primate Murder
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Welcome back!
Mastercraft or MC is the item's gimmick. By itself it's only worth 5% melee (not much), but it could also be used to give the item skills, toggles and various cool effects. Basically, there's no real reason to use non-MC equipment, as it will always come off rather bland.
The current meta involves stun-locking, then nuking the monster with elecomped armor skills (usually buffing yourself up beforehand). Check out Commonly Used Strategies, especially the Purple Rain Loop for more info.
Most of the subraces have been revamped! Vampire remains the best choice for an FO mage, so finish up the training in Darkovia, complete the advanced quest and gain a second no-drop armor in the form of your subrace transformation, complete with an Int drive, a qc stun and a lvl 10 toggle that boosts your damage and gives lifesteal!
Finally, before getting into the rest of the equipment, make sure to grab Essence Orb. It's a really op misc that allows for quickcast (without costing a turn) conversion of your hp into sp, giving you the chance to spam skills every single turn!
Edit: As the week's release is coming out today, some of the BiS items are going to be leaving for a year or more in just a few hours. Make sure to pick them up ASAP.
Weapons
First of all, I'd suggest farming for the Staff of Awe and aligning its special to PWD. 3% chance of instantly killing the monster is a pretty nice gimmick. For the element, I'd probably suggest shifting to darkness.
Arcane Cutlass of Combustion does less damage than normal weapons, but boosts the damage of your fire spells (Blood Pyre or D-Burst) by 28%. Get it now! The weapon leaves GGBs for a year in just a few hours! If you end up missing it or just want a regular damage weapon, use Blazing Bloodzerker sword - it does +25% damage on regular attacks and boosts your fire spells by 10% for a small hp cost.
Kindred sword can be charged to autohit. With the kindred pet, you can get enough charges every single round. There's also Tidal Pen if you want a spell-booster.
Arcane Cutlass of Gales gives +28% damage bonus to your wind spells. Again, get it now! The cutlasses leave GGBs in just a few hours! If you end up missing it, align your no-drops to wind, as it doesn't have anything else really worth using.
Arctic Athame gives +18.75% damage bonus to your ice spells, with the bonus doubled against monsters with Int>0. Great synergy with Cryomancer Bloodmage.
Terra Bloodzerker sword is a powerful earth weapon. Troll Club can give a stronger boost, but at the expense of your accuracy.
Dynamancer's Bloodblade is an energy copy of the Blazing Bloodzerker sword, with a small bonus when used with Bloodmage armors.
Arcane Cutlass of Radiance gives +28% damage to your light spells. As above, get it now! Alternatively, there's a Lumenomancer Bloodblade.
Armors
Your no-drop Vamp armor covers both wind and dark resistances - and attacks in Evolved Form, particularly with a Bloodblade or Bloodzerker blade, should deal about as much damage as a spell.
Pyromancer Bloodmage returns to the Void in ~2 months. With +50% spell damage (paid via hp) and a compressed fire spell with powerful elecomp, it's among the best fire nukes in the game. Next up is Blazing Bloodzerker (UR GGB). It does +20% damage for an hp cost and has a toggle to lock you to 2x fire damage, giving you a cheap and strong nuke. A more f2p version would be Torontosaurus Rex with ~2x skill cost and 1.5x skill damage.
Hydromancer Bloodmage is a water copy of the Pyromancer, but it's currently available from UR GGBs.
Ice has a Cryomancer Bloodmage.
Earth doesn't have a Bloodmage yet, so the strongest nuke would be Terra Bloodzerker.
Energy has a Dynamancer Bloodmage.
In terms of pure damage, Lumenomancer Bloodmage is the strongest armor available, but I would highly suggest checking out the new and revamped paladin. It has 20 (!) skills, 3 guests, a variety of nukes and effects and can even stop you from dying (once per battle).
Angel of Souls has a pretty generic weapon-based darkness skill, but it costs hp instead of mp or sp, making it easily spammable.
Shields
If you become a Stormfallen Knight, Avenger's Bulwark slowly charges up a free EleShield.
Celtic Wheel has an Int drive, making it easily the best shield for an offensive mage build.
Fujin shield has a Dex drive for bonus accuracy.
Pies' Cha drive is rather more useful now that Poes use Cha for 25% of their boost.
Golem Guard has a toggle for a bit of damage reduction.
Energy doesn't really have anything great, so just use Taladosian for a small chance of halving the damage you take.
Scarab Shell has a toggle to lower monster MRM, increasing the accuracy of all your attacks and spells.
Spells
Summon Poelala gives you a guest that does not attack, but boosts the damage of all your magical attacks and spell - a must-have for any nuking mage. If you miss out on the Mind Gauntlet, you can also use Essence of Carnage guest. Its Defiant mode restores a bunch of mp based on the damage you deal with non-spell attacks.
Your armor skills and up much stronger than regular spells. As such, there are only a few damage spells worth even looking at:
- Your D-Burst and Warmaster's Burst deal +50% damage for an hp cost.
- Archmage Research or Runic Binding give you a source of harm damage against low-resist mobs.
- Sizzler 'Splosion sacrifices some damage, but autohits. Useful, considering that wind has a lot of high-MRM mobs.
- Knife to Meat You is a quickcast (doesn't cost a turn) earth spell. Comes back at Mogloween (in 1-2 weeks).
Purple Rain is a spell so meta, that it has an entire strategy build around it (see the Purple Rain Loop mentioned in the intro). The basic idea is to cast it once to save your (and monster's) current hp/mp/sp values, cast a bunch of buffs and debuffs, then cast it again to return your hp/mp/sp to prior values. You basically gain a bunch of free effects.
Some of the spells that could be cast inside the PR loop:
- Moonwalker's Grace. Qc Dex booster, costs mp.
- Edoc Imanok. Qc MRM boost, enhances your blocking.
- Arms of the Dragonguard. Makes your next attack an automatic Lucky Strike. Not qc.
- Angry Trobble. Accuracy boost for several turns. Not qc.
- New Year's Surprise (token). A qc accuracy boost for several turns. Should come back at Frostval.
Pets
As a 0-Cha build, you have little reason to use anything except Poelala. Like the guest, it boosts the damage of all your magical attacks and spells.
If you plan on getting the Kindred sword, you can also pick up the Kindred pet. In charge mode, it can provide enough charges for you to autohit every single turn.
Miscs
As mentioned above, Essence Orb is your first priority.
The second is Z-finity Gauntlet: Mind. It has 2 qc skills, first consumes sp for mp (1/battle), second consumes hp for mp (1/turn). Basically, it gives you allthe mana you need to cast your spells every turn. Get it now! Leaves LTS in just a few hours! If you end up missing it, Rejuvenating Necklacegives mp based on damage dealt.
Shadowfeeder Pendant gives qc celerity - great synergy with Purple Rain and any elecomped nukes.
Z-finity Gauntlet: Time gives you 1/battle guaranteed qc stun against any monster without stun immunity. Get it now! Leaves LTS in just a few hours!
Goggernaut Helm gives +10 bth to every attack on the field, without the usual /2 for spells.
There are quite a few damage miscs for you to choose from. Eye of Osiris gives Int and bth. Murderator Gauntlet gives Int, a bit of Cha and has a chance to inflict Control. 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.
Z-finity Gauntlet: Power inflicts qc EleVuln (1/turn), increasing the damage monster takes from your attacks and spells. Get it now! Leaves LTS in just a few hours!
There are quite a few choices competing for that last slot:
- Bell Shell heals a bit of your hp based on damage dealt. The heal is less than CoRS', but it also doesn't reduce your damage, making it an overall better choice for FO builds.
- Taladosian Pendant gives +10 mental potence, increasing your chances of inflicting Vamp's qc Mesmerize.
- Morningstar Helm makes you immune to paralysis.
- Z-finity Gauntlet: Space can give a qc EleShield or a boost to blocking.
Hope the info's useful and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!
< Message edited by Primate Murder -- 10/15/2020 5:26:34 >
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