I have been seeing a lot of activity on discord asking about builds and guides so I wanted to post my thoughts since I now have characters in all 4 archtypes leveled up. This guide should get you through to the End of Time and to your mastery quest (around level 21-22).
General tips:
- Find a skill with good, spammable aoe damage and invest in that skill to start. You can always despecialize later on. At around level 50 your skill specializations level up quickly so dont be scared to invest in something early even if you dont use it later on.
- Use a shield. Unless you have twink gear having a shield is a good idea. Craft “damage reduction on block” and “block chance”. Block protection is another must have for end game.
- Invest in void protection for the first act. If there is one protection to invest in early it’s void. So many of the monsters have void damage types and they tend to hit the hardest.
- Do all of the side quests. There are 16 extra passive points in game currently and most of them are from side quests in the Ruined and Imperial Eras.
- 0.7.6 Update: Main and side quests also provide idol slots. This is taken from wowow2264’s list. Idol Slot Quests List
- Learn to craft ASAP. Press F in game and get comfortable with crafting. Keep AT LEAST your weapon up to around your level. If you dont know how crafting works, ask or search for a basic tutorial.
Starting out:
There are many different ways to level a mage. Glacier, Fire Ball, Lightning Blast all work well. My focus will be on elemental nova as I believe this provides the fastest clear speed due to its spammable AOE damage.
The skills you will use to level are Elemental Nova, Focus, Teleport, Flame Ward, X.
Skills and Specializations:
- Your Main attack is Elemental Nova . At level 4 you get your first skill specialization slot. Put Elemental Nova in this spot. For the skill nodes, go 1/1 Lightning Nova, 3/5 Elemental Expanse, 1/1 Luminaire (This gives the spell the ability to channel.) Then go 1/1 Fire Nova 4/5 Ash Frenzy, 1/1 Arcane Projection. (This allows you to cast Ele Nova at the target.)
***I will say that in my opinion this set up with Elemental Nova gives the best control of all skills in the game regardless of class. The damage is great for leveling but does have a lower base damage and is not as strong as other skills at end game but the control you have is worth the lower damage trade off even in high wave arena. - At level 9 you get your second skill specialization. For a first character I would put Flame Ward here for the defense. Go 2/5 Stalwart defense, 4/4 Concentrated Shielding, 1/1 Fortification, 5/5 Dilation
Passives:
- 8/8 Arcanist
- 8/8 Elementalist
- 5/5 Ice and Fire
Note: Once you get 20 skill points in Mage click the button to UNLOCK the MASTERY TREES. This button is just above the passive skill tree you have been putting your points into.
Gear:
For gear, get a nice wand or sceptre for the base spell damage. Craft spell damage and crit where you can. For your other gear nothing is really mandatory. Health and dodge are always good. Protections also help. 100% Glancing Blows are now easier to get and you should aim for this ASAP. Look for the prefix Set Chance Glancing Blows.
Uniques:
Required - None
Recommended - Invoker’s Static Touch x2, Prism Wraps
Playstyle:
- Cast Flame Ward before tough fights
- Teleport to the mobs
- Channel/spam Elemental Nova. *Note: Once you get Arcane Projection you will just channel Nova at the mobs once they enter the screen.
- Focus to recover mana. Rinse and repeat.
Enjoy the game ! It is a lot of fun.