I played on Macantacht back in the days. Unfortunately I lost my original char during one of the server merges due to a 4 year break... Well, whatever, GF.
In loving memory... Guild Equilibrium!
Posts by Silverdust
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Has anyone ever realized that on the new server(s) there won't be Serenstum or Wing of the Dragon King and a few other things I can't think of right now?
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I mean there are players playing Warrior/Mage for phys. attack just for the shits and giggles
I would love to see that!
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No, he was right. I got the name wrong.
If your signature is up to date and your W/M is really in the 50s, then this might still work for you. But advance just a few levels more and you'll find that these skills simply aren't enough. Having all 3 skills on CD with nothing to do already tells you that it's probably not the most efficient use of this combo.
As I wrote in the guide, at higher levels, these skills will only do a tiny fraction of the dmg that a weapon hit does (I'm talking of 10-25%). If you actually use mage gear and a wand/staff, that is.
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About Lightning you said "good for rooting although as a melee class you won't use it that often". I take exception to this for a couple of reasons. A Warmage is NOT a Melee class, he is a Nuker/Magic DPS. His real DPS is all in his Magic Attack. Anything that keeps that mob off my face is worth the time.
I mean "melee" as opposed to "ranged" and not in terms of the physical/magical dichotomy. W/M is a melee class in that the vast majority of your damage is dealt through weapon hits and for this you have to get into the face of that mob. If you don't get up close with a W/M, you'll simply not do much damage. You might be confusing this with a M/W.
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Edit: Where is the guide?!
Apparently my edits need to be approved by a moderator first, until then the post remains invisible... Give them a few minutes and it should be back.
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Thank you very much everyone for your positive feedback, your thorough proof-reading and for the recommended corrections.
I added them to the guide, with credits of course!
Terror - never really use it as Lightning serves the same purpose without rage
It has an AOE effect and is very useful in dungeon trash groups, I like warriors that use it
You don't have to max it of course, even soemthing like 70 is nice.
Terror only affects one mob (instills fear effect), it doesn't have an AOE. Are you sure you don't mistake it for another skill?
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Contents [Hide]
There were good guides on the old forum, sadly they got lost with many other good posts, so I'm trying to put together a helpful, mostly comprehensive but still TL;DR friendly guide for the Warmage [W/M] combo.
General
Pros
- high DPS
- easy to play
- not a lot of TP needed
- forgiving about poor gear
- flip-combo M/W irons out some of the W/M weaknesses
Cons
- no AOE = groups of mobs mean imminent death
- fragile (cloth and melee is a bad combination, K/M fares way better here)
- boring play style (matter of taste, of course)
Play Style
Insane magical damage on top of normal weapon hits ("white-hits"), this means:
- melee - you have to get up close with enemies
- wand (or staff) - because you want to max Magical Damage
- cloth gear - you want to gear like a mage
- mage stats - because you want to raise your Intelligence and Magical Attack
- attack speed of your weapon (and buffs/pots that lower it) are very important
- no true one-hits - because your white hit and the magical damage on top are dealt individually, even if your first hit kills the mob, you will still aggro all the mobs around it (and since you have no AOE, this sucks)
- vast majority of dmg is dealt through white-hits - other dmg-skills only deal a fraction of the dmg your weapon-hits do (about 10-25%)
- you won't use a lot of skills (sometimes the W/M playstyle is described as "hit 1 and collect loot")
Skills
Only more or less useful skills will be mentioned. All skills not mentioned here can/should be neglected.
Warrior Shared Skills
Enraged
instantly adds 20 rage (use when needed)
Brute Strength
boosts Strength by percentage, resulting HP gain is very low though
Warrior Primary Only
Frenzy
increases attack speed and accuracy, great for boss fights or harder elites, long CD, works along nicely with Strong Stimulant and similar buffs
Surprise Attack
great starter for fights as you rush in and knock down the enemy. Don't put any TP in it, as dmg output of physical attacks is negligible.
Shouttemporarily stuns enemies in range, also gain 40% damage reduction with lvl 50 elite, situational, be careful when you use it as you might aggro surrounding mobs
Aggressivenessvastly increases rage gain, I don't really use it much
Survival Instinctdoes what it says, raises dodge, parry and def, difficult to time but a life saver
Blasting Cyclone - I use this skill all the time on trash mobs. So useful even if the knockdown is just a couple of sec. Also works as an interrupt skill. Rage cost is quite high but not a problem for W/M.
Mage Shared Skills
Fireball
dmg is meh. Much lower than on mage due to lack of fire dmg increase.
Lightninggood for rooting although as a melee class you won't use it that often
Wisdommore INT (gives 10% INT increase at LVL 100)
Intensification
not much dmg bonus, but sure why not (you want to level it for M/W anyway)
Silenceapart from silencing also used to pull mobs from group without (hopefully) aggroing others
Fire Wardnot really useful, as usual
Elite Skills
In case of W/M, surprisingly all the elite-skills are quite useful, this combo heavily relies on those skills.
- 15 - Electrical Rage - stackable buff that increases Magical Attack by a certain percentage (+75% when stacked 3x at Lvl 100)
- 20 - Lightning's Touch - close combat dmg spell, similar dmg as Fireball, can be spammed in between white-hits (unfortunately this often delays the next hit)
- 25 - Sense of Danger - high dmg reduction if HP is below 30%, tricky to time right but a life saver (macros help)
- 30 - Thunder Sword - deals 4x wind damage to target (individual hit dmg is similar to Fireball)
- 35 - Electric Attack - white-hits deal magical damage, superior to Lava Weapon
- 40 - Lava Weapon - white-hits deal magical damage, inferior to Electric Attack
- 45 - Power Control - passive, enhances Electric Attack and Lava Weapon with accuracy and crit boosts
- 50 - Wind Bastion - passive, shout gets 40% dmg reduction
- 60 - Lightning Burn Weapon - lets Electric Attack and Lava Weapon be on at the same time
- 70 - Possessed By Anger - Electrical Rage also boosts pdef/mdef (+75% when stacked 3x at Lvl 100), making you less squishy
Item-Set Skills
Only notable ones are mentioned:
- Tourniquet (Nabod Klein in Dalanis) or Tourniquet+ (Sardo Castle) or Recovery Area (Crypt of Eternity) - This is your Healing over Time skill.
- Undefeatable King (Hall of Survivors) - stops stuns, roots, and slow-downs, can be used while under effect
- Composure (Grafu Castle) or Guardian of the Pass (Grotto of Horror) - 15 min buff that lowers aggro and increases strength
- Weapon Guard (Hall of the Demon Lord) or Iron Light Magic Ring Protection (Bethomia) - passive, lowers AoE damage received
- Energy Restore (Nabod Klein in Dalanis) - you can gain 30-40 rage before a fight, obsolete with use of rage
Skill Rotation
This is only looking at the skills of the W/M combo. Pots, food, other buffs, etc. are not taken into account.
Always
- keep "Lightning Burn Weapon" (or "Electric Attack" if you don't have the Lvl 60 elite yet) active
- Fire Ward (because why not, it's just one click)
Prior to Fight if Boss
- Intensification
- Frenzy
- (Aggressiveness - if you think you need the Rage)
- (Enraged - if you think you need the Rage)
Start Off Fight
- run towards enemy / attack / "hit 1"
- or rush in through "Surprise Attack"
- to pull mob from group, try Silence (sometimes still aggroes entire group)
During Fight
- as Rage generates (through weapon hits and getting hit), try to stack "Electrical Rage" to 3 as fast as possible, then stop spamming it
- watch Electrical Rage buff go down, only cast it again if only about 2-3 seconds left (macros help)
- yeah, that's already it...
- some recommend using "Lightning's Touch" in between white-hits, but I found that this often delays the next weapon hit. I only use it when the enemy only has a little HP left and I don't want to wait for the next weapon hit.
During Fight (situational)
- Sense of Danger - added survivability
- Survival Instinct - added survivability
- Shout - added survivability
- Silence - you know the drill
After Fight
- /dance
TP Prioritization
Which skills to pour your TP into, from most important to least important. Skills not mentioned aren't useful (IMHO) so don't waste any TP on them.
- Electrical Rage - MAX!!! (should always be equal to your player level!)
- Electric Attack - MAX!!! (see above)
- Lava Weapon - MAX!!! (see above)
- Survival Instinct - get around 50-60, then max if too much TP left
- Sense of Danger - max to 50
- Thunder Sword - around 50-60, then max if too much TP left
- Lightning's Touch - around 50-60, then max if too much TP left
- Aggressiveness - might max to 50, although I rarely use it as rage gain is enough (or Rage Pot is all you need)
- Terror - never really use it as Lightning serves the same purpose without rage
- Brute Strength - HP gain is negligible, so around 50-60, only max if everything else maxed
- Berserk - only mildly helpful for M/W, if needed max to 50
Gear
Again, W/M is a magical DPS combo, so you will use mage gear with (non-)stats that result in higher magical damage output.
Armor
- Cloth gear, whatever you fancy, whichever sets result in the best magical damage output.
- Non-stat wise, Matt/Mcrit usually beats Int/Mcrit as int-based damage spells are negligible.
- There's also magical Chain gear available if you have the patience and money to get it. Can be worn with W/M but not with M/W, though.
- A general milestone should be 80% crit rate.
Although chain gear usually has no magical critical rate (I think?) so it is useless of you want to play DPS since crit rate is essential.
Accessory
- The lvl 87 "Wizard ... of the Ancient Spirits" set is still the best set to have due to its set bonus.
- Other ring and earring can be blue high lvl quest gear as these are decent (and at lvl 100 only 1 stat needs to be removed).
Weapon
- Wand, whatever is the best at the moment, or whatever you can afford.
- Since you hit with your weapon, dura will go down quickly. So I recommend a wand with 105+ dura if you don't want to use repair hammers often. Try not getting a low dura weapon as you will run out of golden hammers quickly.
- Can also be played with staff, but then depends more on attack speed pots/buffs and dps will decrease much more after burst.
Tali
- Wing of the Dragon King - This craftable lvl 35 talisman is still the best for W/M due to its percentage increase of fire damage (which is your damage caused by Lava Weapon which amounts to about half of your weapon hit damage). The recipe doesn't drop anymore, so you will need to find someone who can craft it for you. Low and high dura frequently pop up in AH. The key is to tier it high with Int/Matt stats (tier 8-9) as this raises the fire dmg percentage. Plussing only gives a slight Matt bonus that is negligible, so don't waste your dias.
- Use any shield (preferably Sta/Parry Rate) for solo questing if you so desire or need the higher survivability.
Stats
- Pure Int/Matt (for a glass cannon)
- Or 1-2 Int/Sta (alternatively Sta/Matt, but Int/Sta beats it if you take all attribute buffs into account)
Runes
Runes (Weapon)
- Raid
- Miracle
- Burst
- Reconciliation, Accuracy or Loot
Runes (Tali)
- Reconciliation
- Miracle
- Burst
- any of the runes under "Runes (Gear)"
Runes (Gear)
The objectively best runes for W/M are Judge, Advance, Sage and Madness. In the end with all +% int modifiers applied, Madness gives more magical attack than Destruction.
- Judge (Int/Matt) - best rune
- Advance (Int/Matt) - second best rune
- Madness (PA/Int)
- Sage (Int/Wis) - better than Sorcery
- Destruction (Matt/Str)
- Sorcery (Int/Wis)
- Potential & Enlightenment (all attributes)
- or any other that raises Int, Matt or even Sta, HP
Cenedrils
The best choice, as of writing this is:
- Mersi (Wis/Matt) - found in Mystical Mirror Water Cave
- Vestin (Int/Mcrit) - found in Mystical Mirror Gallery
Garsit (Int) gives less Matt than Mersi, even with many of the most common intelligence attribute buffs applied (mage-class "Wisdom" at lvl 100 +10%, Hero Pot +20%, warlock buff +6%, Ancient Spirits accessory set +4%, lvl 60 elite quest flower buff +3% = 43% intelligence increase. Mersi gives 909 Matt at rank 10 (linear increase). Garsit gives 303 Int = 606 Matt; with +43% int increase = 867 Matt. So Mersi wins.)
Leveling Guide
This is a personal recommendation based on the assumption you start a new char:
- Pick Mage at the Character Creation screen. (Starting with Mage eliminates the need to have a second Chain set for Warrior till Lvl 35)
- Level Mage to 35 (or higher) - joining a Lvl 100 player for one run of Goblin Mine with XP pots from Leveling Bags takes you beyond Level 30, or do Honor Party Power Leveling, or just old-school questing
- Pick Warrior as Secondary Class
- Level Warrior to Lvl 35 (Goblin Mine run(s) or by turning in quests 10 Lvl beyond your current Warrior class level)
- Get W/M Elite Skill "Electric Attack" (35/35) and max it - this makes your white-hits now deal Magical Damage. From this point on you will use only mage gear on W/M. If you picked Mage as Primary, you should already have a few items.
- Use a staff as weapon for Warrior (I recommend using a staff till about Lvl 80 as the higher dmg will cause you to one-hit most mobs)
- Get W/M Elite Skill "Lava Weapon" (40/40) - always max it (because you will need it later) but don't use it, keep using Electrical Weapon. Statistically Electrical Weapon deals slightly more damage than Lava Weapon, also the damage output of Lava Weapon varies more.
- Level to 60/60 and get the 60/60 elite skill - That's the next milestone as this now gives you Lightning Burn Weapon (Electrical Weapon and Lava Weapon at the same time which means 150% dmg output)
- Level to 70/70 and get the 70/70 elite skill - Electrical Rage will now also increase Pdef and Mdef which will come in very handy as mobs get stronger.
- Change to Wand & Tali whenever you are ready (for solo questing feel free to use a shield if you need more survivability)
- Keep maxing "Electric Attack", "Lava Weapon", and "Electrical Rage" - Even if you do most of your leveling during XP events, you should have enough TP to always max these three.
Weapon misses? Ways to deal:
Since W/M is a magical combo dealing damage through weapon hits, your natural lack of Physical Accuracy will result in misses (weapon hits that show "Miss" and don't cause damage). Statistically a miss rate of 5-8% on same lvl mobs is normal and just comes with this combo. Here are a few ways to minimize your miss rate:
- get the Lvl 45 elite skill "Power Control" - which increases you accuracy, it's a no-brainer and you'll likely already have it
- level up your "Wand" weapon skill
- use an Accuracy Rune in your wand
- get Monster Cards with Dexterity (which also increases Pacc)
- use the Cenedril Liphisto (Dex/Pacc) - found in Dynamic Mirror Shrine; first MW instance in list, aka KS
- let a Druid friend buff you with "Savage Blessing"
Disclaimer
I hope that some may find this guide helpful. Also, I'm not an expert so I appreciate other players giving their few cents or contributing missing information or correcting mine. I might edit this guide accordingly.
