Mage Help.

[Shu]

Hmm I guess this is more to the Mods than anyone else. I had a few questions in regards to enduring a Mage class at the beginning. In most games when you lvl up and adjust your stats you usually throw most of your attributes towards Magic and MP. Although this one I'm noticing with each new area I go into I have to heal myself quite a bit in order to stay alive.. and here are the reasons why.


1) Without putting any stats into defensive categories (Def, Magic, Evasion) You are going to get hit for the most damage pretty much every time.

2) You have no weapon starting out for the mage class. You can certainly duel weild a sword in both hands but that's about it.

3) You have a weak fire spell and a weak cure spell. The cure spell is overated to be honest. With potions you will never be using it as much as you would be using your Cure spell. Also the cure spell is quite unreliable from time to time. I have consecutively cast on myself 3 times in a row and missed 0/3. I died of course because I relied to heavily in my magic. So with this said, the cure spell is slow to lvl up and unless you go out of your way to lvl it up.

4) Low HP - all mages will know that being a mage is a hardship early on because you have very low HP. If you get hit once by a soldier lvl 2 - you go down to 3/4ths HP.

So the questions are..

Am I specializing wrong? - All of my points are in MP and Mag.

Should I become more defensive and start using my swords?

Should I even bother with my curative magic yet?

I'm only lvl 7 - but I'm noticing lvling is going very slow due to the fact I'm having to heal myself in new areas about every other turn.

 

[Takaiki]

Shu for a good mage increase HP in equal amounts as MP that is how Kaos did it and it worked greatly for him. SSB could tell ya how to be a really good one better then I, but a high hp helps alot.

 

[Shu]

Ah, Thanks - if you have the link just throw it down. Any help is appreciated, I would rather not restart my character knowing I've gimped myself up to lvl 7.

 

[Takaiki]

Where are you?
I might be able to help you out alittle because I need to reraise my keyblade attack stance.

 

[Saix]

While specialising in certain fields can gain you advantages, you still need to accommodate your weaknesses. Your speed is horrendous, so it's likely that soon enough monsters will be gaining 2 turns for every 1 that you get, which is obviously not within your interest. Mages are best suited to be 'sweepers', so adding to speed would benefit you hugely - especially in the later stages of the game.

It's not just about assigning points purely to magic and MP; you need to level out your stats whilst defining a clear strength.


With this in mind, I think that equipment stat bonuses could be utilised more effectively by the Directors; in any RPG you'll pick up class-specific weapons that work to that class/character's strengths... a warrior would be granted good offensive capabilities, in addition to, say, a small bonus in dexterity for example. Same for mages - magic and MP boosts are pretty common.

 

[Rukai]

Yeah, Speed is a must otherwise all enemies will start to have double-turns before you act, and most of your stats are unbalanced. I suggest you raise either DEF or EVA at least to 30 alongside with SPD. Raise STR to increase the maxe weight of the items you can carry. And finally don't forget your ethers.

 

[Shu]

Well then I guess the real question since all of these great answers have been rolling in...

If I were to even out my character now, would it be too late?

Like I said, I threw all and I do mean all (1 point or 2 in HP) into MP/Magic.

 

[Takaiki]

no If someone was to give you a hand you should be able to gain enough experience to fix the problem.

 

[Gabranth]

No it's not too late if you can get someone to team up with you. Just remember to add plenty to HP, SPD and EVA/DEF. Don't focus on both DEF and EVA because you'd be wasting your points. It wouldn't hurt to increase your MAG DEF every now and then too, but bear in mind that it will also reduce the effects of healing.

With this in mind, I think that equipment stat bonuses could be utilised more effectively by the Directors

Class assigned equipment will be added further on in the game. A certain Boss drops some stat modifying equipment in the Desert already.

 

[Donald Trump]

Well then I guess the real question since all of these great answers have been rolling in...

If I were to even out my character now, would it be too late?

Like I said, I threw all and I do mean all (1 point or 2 in HP) into MP/Magic.

I think around your level I used all five points from leveling up to boost my HP. Not because I needed it, but because it was a waste of potions. You need a higher evasion than because mages have no strength so basic armour only. The fire spell is quite weak, and after that, damage is capped. I found it's easier to increase the magic stat the most, your character won't be well balanced, but you can kill the monsters in 2-3 turns and then heal.

 

[Shu]

I think around your level I used all five points from leveling up to boost my HP. Not because I needed it, but because it was a waste of potions. You need a higher evasion than because mages have no strength so basic armour only. The fire spell is quite weak, and after that, damage is capped. I found it's easier to increase the magic stat the most, your character won't be well balanced, but you can kill the monsters in 2-3 turns and then heal.

Hmm what about Speed though? Everyone mentions speed as well, just wondering.

 

[Takaiki]

Speed is very useful you can quadruple the effectiveness of your character by having a high speed.

 

[Donald Trump]

My speed was 20 from about level 4ish onwards. I'll be different for you because then cure lasted for 4 turns
I used to wait until I got to less than 40hp and then use a warrior's potion and then start using fire. I did have 110 hp and be dead next turn sometimes, but that doesn't really matter. How many turns does it take you to kill the monsters?

 

[Saga]

Also, for a mage, level your spells as early as possible is vital. The lower the MP cost, the less Max MP needed, meaning you can use your points elsewhere.

Cure Lv5, apparently, never misses.

 

[Shu]

All depends where I go Placebo. If I stick in the same region of where I am right now - I can usually kill Mages and such in 1 or 2 blows with Fire. But then when I progress I am noticing if I take 2 or more mages on at a time, they are able to turn me into dust in a heart beat. Why?

1) Mages always have that damn ether on them, so if I get one of them down low, the other will heal him.

2) 2 or more mages on top of me = blizzard/thunder/fire back to back on me. And if you haven't noticed I only have 120 health. So depending on their speed I usually fall over, so that's why I'm not to worried about progressing right now.

 

[Gabranth]

SPD is an annoying stat. Sometimes when it gets affected by a spell and then wears off, you or the enemy get a free turn. At any rate, I believe that if your SPD is 50% higher than the enemy, you get a turn at the beginning and the end of a round. If your SPD is 100% or higher than the enemy, you get a turn inbetween every monster for which you're 100% faster than. This works for the monsters as well. So as you can see, SPD is a vital stat.

 

[Takaiki]

with speed there are 2 groupings
single
200% means that you double your turn
Team
150% means that you get the first and last turns
200% means that you split every opponent that you are facing.

Also it works in reverse so don't let them get double of what you have other wise you will have a big problem with attacking.

 

[Donald Trump]

Raise your evasion first, because having only ten means you are going to get hit a lot, which means healing, and therefore less attacking. Don't increase your MP anymore for the time being, buy some ethers. The problem is, like you said that fire is quite a weak spell. See if someone nice enough will kill the Vanir King with you so you can get Blizzard and Thunder, which do at least twice as much damage as fire.

 

[Takaiki]

Raise your evasion first, because having only ten means you are going to get hit a lot, which means healing, and therefore less attacking. Don't increase your MP anymore for the time being, buy some ethers. The problem is, like you said that fire is quite a weak spell. See if someone nice enough will kill the Vanir King with you so you can get Blizzard and Thunder, which do at least twice as much damage as fire.

Def is a better bet for the long run. after level 65 your enemies will tend to have over 300 dex this means that you have no chance to evade. Ruka, Marshy, SSBmaster, and I all had to figure that out and it forced some of us to reset due to it.

 

[Solidjuss]

Well I think I kind of messed my stats up in the beginning ... and now am a bit too high to afford a reset

Hp: 300
Mp: 360
Str:20
Def:22
Mag:90
Mag Def: 22
SPD:42
DEX:10
Eva:20

So should I reset my char because of the 20 str and 20 eva? ... I got some really nice stuff and tons of cash atm ... Kind of don't want to do it but if it is necessary, I will reset. So what do you think?