Hybrid Mage

A little on Mages;

As a mage your damage output is a function of your INT and the intdmg conversion of the spell you're using (seen in the spell details panel - right click a spell). A given spell will have a Base damage, an Int-->damage conversion and a damage cap (a limit on how much damage it is capable of). A lot of spells have special additional effects, but the 3 a hybrid mage is concenred with are:

Antipode: A mix of fire and water. This spell has the lowest intdmg of the hybrid spells but in exchange it has 0 negative effects.

Defribulate: Lightning/water; This spell has the highest potential hits but overall does the same damage as apocalypse (due to a larger damage variance). In exchange, Defrib suffers from a rather substantial chance to outright miss the target (24% higher than other spells).

Apocalypse: The same intdmg as Defribulate, without the miss chance. The downside of Apoc is that it will hit you for a portion of the damage it deals.

Whilst defribulate and apocalypse can end up hitting about 33% harder than antipode; their downsides can come back to bite you sometimes. Chain-missing with Defrib can and often does cause death. Apocalypse's self-damage is relatively tame for the first few hundred levels but after that it will knock you down (over 1000 self-damage per cast at top levels).

Your builds should focus around a fixed int/level ratio. Clever mages don't max out int/level early on since all that really does is squish your face up against the damage cap and mock you, but once you're past level 255 (rank 51), you 'graduate from mage school' and shed your damage cap, at which point any and all INT will result in bigger hits.

So your choices are either 2int/level for a more efficient ride to level 255 or 3int/level for a less efficient ride to 255 but a better outcome once you reach it. After that you spread your remaining points between FOC (for better offense) or DEF (for better defence). Building higher defense will mean you can fight further out and possibly find better gear, but without supporting FOC you will miss frequently and find your fights lasting much longer. Conversely, a FOC build will not safely fight above their level and will rely on the AH for gear. En exchange however your fights will be fast and relaible. Plenty of players have found a happy middle groung mixing the 2. I recomend you treat this as a personal preference choice and go with your gut.

(Still to come - gearing choices, Q&A)

	Author	Topic: Hybrid Mage (Read 969 times)
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