Slightly Inexpensive PVE Survivabilty Build for Mages: No Pally Needed!

[RedRyder]

LONG READ:

The question of Pally builds usefulness has risen many a time. To be Pure, Dex Hybrid, or Str Hybrid? IMO, a main factor of choosing pally is for survivability. Well let me tell ya, I've been through the pally phase myself. While it may provide more armor, the truth is, your attacks won't be hitting very often. During the Ao3 days
(my last trial as a pally,) I was pretty much just straight up support . My attacks barely hit, so the only thing I was left doing was healing and buffing. While it's the Mai purpose of a Mage, it was pretty boring. I felt like there was so much more I could do for the group.

Initially as mages, we've all (for the most part) done the full int. Your skills will do massive damage, but you're pretty much a glass cannon, and in maps such as sewers, nuri's, and fang, you WILL be dying.. A lot.

Now on to the dex/int builds. I've really seen no flaw in them. You get the dodge, crit, damage, and all that good stuff, along with the essentials of a support class. Now the main concern would be your survivability once you do receive damage. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's no longer an issue! The below pictures will show you how my stats are allocated on level 65. My int and dex are split evenly, save for the 5 point difference. The 15 str was just for the extra point in armor from when I had a full level 58 charmin wand set that granted me the even 170 armor.

Now on to mt fang. I'm always on a quest to gain the most amount of armor WITHOUT going pally and without using buffs. MF items make that really easy! Obviously, the set items are more expensive than the other pinks. Something I noticed between Lilith and chiroptera is the armor difference. Chi. grants more armor from what I've noticed, and is generally cheaper as well, whereas Lilith could be in the millions and Chiroptera a few hundred thousand to the ten thousands. Really, the only expensive piece would be the bracer.

In the below pictures are the items I use. The Chiroptera wand set at level 61. Besides the chi. items, I use the 9armor dex ring and the founders helmet (helmet). If you don't have the helmet that's fine, the elite cap vanity bonus more than suffices (along with an extra 5 dmg/armor). If you don't have those either (I lack them all lol) you can go for the vanity armor now and go with the next caps vanity weapon. If you don't wanna do that either, it's just a 5 armor/DMG difference.

With the said equipment, I total a whopping 202 armor! With no buffs!
During the nuri phase, I had more armor than those with demonic int sets, only with an uncrafted level 58 set.

So as you can see, you dont need to be pally for survivability! Hope I helped

[Ayc2000]

nice! I want to try this
do you have stats with buffs?

[RedRyder]

nice! I want to try this
do you have stats with buffs?

Here ya go

[javier995]

Your makeup smeared.

[RedRyder]

Your makeup smeared.

That's another thing I failed to mention; the face I'm using grants more armor as well.

[javier995]

Your makeup smeared.

That's another thing I failed to mention; the face I'm using grants more armor as well.

Yup, I noticed that the other day. Since when do different faces give different stats?

[RedRyder]

Yup, I noticed that the other day. Since when do different faces give different stats?

Close to 3 months ago lol, 8/30/2011

[javier995]

Yup, I noticed that the other day. Since when do different faces give different stats?

Close to 3 months ago lol, 8/30/2011

Ahh lol. Well I quit PL before that lol.

[WhoIsThis]

Imo, survivability in pure int isn't as bad as you make it out. Dex/int imo is a worse choice than pure int, unless you pvp. The loss in skill damage is noticeable and considering how high mob hp is, more skill damage is vital. Plus dex/int in int gear doesn't offer much more in survivability, just slightly higher dodge.

Edit: Only thing you really have to worry about is Aunt Emma and maybe some of the bosses if you get aggro.

[RedRyder]

I can last with aunt Emma without dying once. I might go back later and try out a partially pure int build with enough dex for my ring

[Cytokinesis]

wat would be an estimate on how much the entire set would cost?

[zeusabe]

I'm lvl 65 pure INT (ever since) mage, same equips and face except the ring so my armor is at 192. My Int is a little over 400, so my spells have more impact. With regards to survivability, not bragging, but I never really felt that I was too soft (to respec). The only time I felt helpless was during my first few runs in Symphony where 1 shot deaths are common (not exclusive to mages). Other than that, I find myself surviving blows that halves my life in a split second...how? spam pots, spam drain life, spam heal, and shield run, and the art of running away and losing aggro to a team member. Of course, knowing the enemies is a big factor, like you don't charge in on long-range enemies (ao3), or pulling one enemy at a time. I noticed with mages, they like to go in first on mobs I'm not sure why but it's a trend, that's why they die a lot. Most of my deaths came from mistakes and lag more than the fact that I'm soft. But, I agree with your equips. Just to add, lilith has less armor (level 61 and 63), but has higher crit. For Dex builds, I see some mages wearing lilith for more damage, and the fang items for pure ints to add survivability. Pure INT , with debuffs and buffs (plus good understanding of when to cast them in dungeon runs) all the way for PVE, never did a hybrid build out hussled me in terms of damage, survivability, and support (probably when I was still starting), PVP that's another story.

[RedRyder]

gotcha. to anyone else reading this, i want to make it clear that the basis of this thread is to give tips or lead one towards the right direction to getting the most amount of armor possible without going pally
ill be experimenting to carry this along with as much int as possible without taking to much out of my current build. i think it would work, so thank you zeusabe and whoisthis

[RedRyder]

wat would be an estimate on how much the entire set would cost?

idk, youll have to check cs with how often the prices are changing