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Magician Guide

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Magicians are a very versatile class and one of the best soloing classes in the game. They can dish out extreme amounts of dps in a group and/or raid. They can summon items to aid pets. They can summon "Mod Rods" which allows players to right-click on it and gain mana from health. They can malo the enemy, "lower the enemy's resistance to spells", and they can launch an assault of pets toward the enemy via AA's and Monster Summoning spells. Magicians can be lazy and deal little DPS towards the enemy, "Sitting while your pet does all the work", or they can deal extreme amounts of DPS, "Nuking, nuking, and nuking the enemy". Magicians also summon reagents needed for spells,"Peridots" and weapons and arrows as well.

Differences between Live and SoD

If you played a Magician on Live, there are some things different here:

  • No more bind affinity. "#bind" is all it takes.
  • No more summoning sets of leather, chainmail, and plate items.
  • You can name your pet!! "#petname monelyn"
  • You can still summon weapons, but you can't summon pet toys like Muzzle of Mardu.
  • You still get mod rods.
  • You still get malo.
  • You don't get LDON spells.
  • After level 60, spells are no longer buyable vian NPC; they must be looted (or bought from PCs).
  • There is no Mage epic quest, but you get a relic pet, which is very nice.
  • "Ancient, Relic, Archaic" spells are acquired from raid mobs and will need a raid to obtain.
  • No out of combat regen (OOC).
  • You no longer lose XP when you die, but you get XP debt.
  • If you buff a lower level toon, the spell can be a maximum of 20 levels higher than the person.
  • Damage Shield spells can only be 8 levels higher than the person.
  • If you are healed or buffed with a hp buff that heals from an outside helper, "not in group", you will get an XP penalty.

Pets

Earth Elemental is just one of the pets that Magicians have at their disposal.

Mages get four different Elemental pets, and 4 Monster Summoning pets. The four Elemental pets are broken down like this:

Earth Elemental

The Earth Elemental has the most hitpoints of all elementals and casts a Root spell. This pet, although having the most hitpoints, is not a very good tank. Its attack rate is slow and has no means of holding aggro outside of its root, which can be broken by any direct damage (Tends to break on 2 out of every 3 nukes).

On the other hand, the Earth Elemental is great for chaos control and for root-rotting mobs. A Mage can generally get 1 or 2 nukes off on a mob before the Earth Elemental root breaks ... mobs that other pets normally wouldn't be able to tank . The pet can be pulled out and then sent back in briefly just to get its Root off, then taken out again.

The Earth Elemental is not generally liked in groups because the root tends to mess with aggro (Root causes the enemy to attack whatever happens to be closest).

Air Elemental

The Magicians Air Elemental pet has a Medium amount of hitpoints (equal to that of a Water Elemental) and casts a spell that deals some damage and stuns the enemy briefly. This pet is better for tanking than the Earth Elemental pet due to its high dodge rate and higher attack rate which procs the Runes off the summoned blades more often. The stuns are also extremely high aggro ... this pet is great for both soloing and groups.

Fire Elemental

The Fire Elemental is the weakest elemental defensively but the strongest offensively. It has the least amount of hitpoints of all the elementals but its damage dealt is the most. In addition, it has a self-only damage shield that is very powerful. This pet best for grouping, raiding, and farming. The Fire Elemental nuke does more damage than both the Water Elemental and Air Elemental and is low aggro. The Fire Elemental's damage shield will always overwrite any other damage shield cast on it, regardless of level.

Water Elemental

The Magician's Water Elemental pet has a Medium amount of hitpoints (equal to that of an Air Elemental) and casts a spell that deals some damage and Slows enemy attacks by 25%. This pet is good for both grouping, soloing, and even raiding. It can get good aggro because of the Slow while soloing, and the Water Elemental Slow nuke sticks to almost any mob and seems to be low resist.

Monster Summoning

Basically, there are 4 levels of Monster Summoning. The first level is a rat, the second is a goblin, the third is an orc, and the fourth is a cyclops. You cast the spell on your target, and the pet rushes to attack until either your summoned pet dies or the mob dies. You can cast all 4 for premium dps.

Gear

Unless your mage is either an alt, or you got the hook-up with a friend, you will have very limited spending money. But quests are a great source of items and money. The quest timeline can help you figure out where to go and what to do:

Quest timeline

If you do happen to have money, I would recommend buying a set of Cured Silk Armor from player vendors if you are on a tight budget, along with some electrum or gold jewelery. If you have a lot to spend, I would recommend a set of Shadow_Silk_Armor, "roughly 2k platinum a piece atm", or a Robe of Flowing Water. I highly recommend doing the Vingrin's Wand of Animation quest, it is a nice primary/secondary item that will last you until level 65, if you are on a low budget.

Leveling

Level 1 - 3

Buy your Level 1 spells, and go nuke everything in your local newbie garden, collect Spider Silks, Bat Furs, Bear Pelts, and Wolf Skins, they can sell for roughly 20pp a stack to players! At level 1, you can attempt Rabb the Rat, the adept mob in North Newport, with a group for a chance of loot. At level 4, you get your first pet spells. At lvl 4 I highly suggest NP Sewers. Camp the bloated rat for a good ranged slot item and a nice hat. Kill ratmen for ale for the mage guild questline. Ideally, stay here till you have 20 hoods and 20 sewer rat tails to turn in, which is about a full level. So, enter at lv 4, exit at 7, turn in, ding 8 with some nice gear through quest/drop.

Level 4 - 9

Now you have your first pet spells. If you are soloing, use your earth pet, it has the most HP, and it roots! I would recommend Centaur Hills at this level, kill wolves, lower level bats, and gnolls. Be careful when fighting near Blackburrow, you might get swarmed with gnolls. If you are brave, you can go into Blackburrow around level 6.

Level 10 - 14

You have a lot of options here, you can do Blackburrow, Fearstone Keep, and Warrens. I personally did Warrens, very easy to solo. Make sure you buy your new spells every chance you get them, your pet increases in size and strength each new spell set.

Level 15 - 18

You can keep hunting the same areas, or you can try your luck at Shrouded Island. Whatever you feel comfortable with.

Level 19 - 24

Warpstone. It is a long run, but you can't beat the XP. Take the Mansion of Portals to Sadri Malath, to Sundered Mountains. The zone is easily soloed.

Alternatively, solo the throne room in the Warrens, or duo to take the whole thing out +king and company for more usable loot.

Level 25-29

Kaladim. You can tear up those dwarves. I used my burned out fire pet to solo there. Just be careful, and take your time.

Level 30-35

Get a 'port to Northern Badlands, and run to Southern Badlands. The Liodreth Warders are amazing XP. Make sure you loot the paws! You get 8,000 XP per 2 paws. Turn them in to Guardsman Scott, located in Northern Badlands near the Sbadlands zoneline. OR Go to Warpstone, hunt Vulfwere Desecrators and ancients, zone XP mod, and drops!

Level 36 - 42

Go to Frosthorn, and hunt the Gnolls there. The XP is steady, and fast. If you get tired of Frosthorn, you can always start Heartland Plateau a little early.

Level 43 - 51

You have a few options here; most people do Heartland Plateau at one point or another. I personally can't stand the place. The XP is very good though, as long as you get a group who knows what they are doing. Spectres in Goblinskull Mountains are extremely nice at this level range. Mielech B is also a popular spot.

Level 52 - 58

I would try and do wyverns in Wyvernfang Coast. They aren't that tough, though. You can also try harthuks in Great Divide, or even do Sorcerer's Labyrinth. Be careful though, it is very slippery in there!! Lasanth is still good around this level, and Freeport with a group.

Level 59+

The world is your oyster now. Dragon Necropolis, Eldenal's Mansion, Sorc's Lab, and Mielech C.

Tactics

The Basic "Soloing" Magician

The basic Magician strategy works like this. First, you cast your pet and summon it a weapon. "Before level 20, summon it one weapon, after 20, it dual wields". Buff it."Burnout = Haste". Damage shield works on all pets other than the Fire Pet, because it has one already. Get ready to roll. If you are soloing, it would be a good idea to cast your self-only buffs, and also have your pet healing spell up. When engaging, send your pet in to attack. Don't pull with your spells to reduce downtime. While the pet is attacking, your job is to help him. If you have your Earth Pet out, go ahead and start nuking from a distance because the it will root the mob protecting you from harm.
Warning, your nukes do break Root, so keep your distance! If you aren't using your Earth Pet, wait for your pet to get the mob down to about 77% before nuking so you don't get aggro. Try and conserve your mana to reduce downtime. Med after the fight, rinse and repeat.

Note: If you have low Charisma, and the mobs are resisting your spells alot, cast Malo on the mob.

Note 2: Pets have a set amount of attacks per round, regardless of weapon delay and or single weapon or 2 weapons, so up until you can summon or aquire procing pet weapons, I would recommend using various 2 handed weapons, summoned or not.

The Kiting Magician

Here is my strategy. "I use my Fire Pet for this one since it has the highest atk" First, summon your pet, cast weapons, buff, etc, etc. Find an open area where you can run. Now find your target mob. Cast your highest level nuke or target AE nuke on the mob and start running! "Watch out for mobs who will aggro"!! When you get some distance, send your pet in to attack. The mob should still be following you. If you get enough room, cast another nuke on him to get more aggro. Basically, you run around nuking the bastard while your pet does dps on him. You and your pet remain healthy. "It's ok if you take a few punches when casting your nuke"

Note: Buy SoW potions, it will help you keep your distance! Make sure you "/pet taunt off" or your pet may steal aggro back.


The Grouping Magician

Last, but not least, we have the grouping Magician. I do not recommend using your Earth Pet here, you will need to pump out as much dps as you can. You use different pets for different situations. Use your Fire Pet for the most dps. "Have a tank in the group, a slower, and most of the mobs are melee". Use your Air Pet when there isn't a tank. "There is a healer or two, and a slower" Use your Water Pet when there isn't a slower. "There is a tank, healer, and enough dps in the group" That takes care of the pet situation. Now your job is to malo the mob, and nuke away. Do not nuke until the tank has aggro though. Save the healer some mana! Summon weapons and haste items for your comrades and their pets and summon food for them, if needed. "AND give them mod rods!!"