17 Support Mage Guide

[Yich]

17 Support Mage Guide

With the infestation of not-so-needed or even informative guides, I feel like this has to be said, especially for a low level PvP guide. I’m really not trying to gain any rep from this. If you find yourself wanting to thank it, well, that’s great. I would prefer you try using the information you find here in a PvP game and help me bring a new element to PvP that was long-lost when the forgotten bows were released.

The level seventeen support mage is my personal favorite level and class to use, just ahead of an 18 de-buff bear. Many have tried using a seventeen support mage but they usually delete their character or respec to a nuke build before the fun starts because they’re too worried about their kill-death ratio. The original seventeen support mage was Sunbro, but he used much different gear back then because they didn’t have the discontinued items that we do today. A stormstrike wand, sniper wing and helm, and Alchemist’s robe was the general uniform for a seventeen support mage. This has changed drastically over the last year or so, so don’t try that.

This all-too-common sense tip will save many from rage-quitting after their first game of forcing FFA. Always play with like-minded people, or at least have one or two on your team. This class naturally aims for FFA, and killing everyone is fun and all, but if you try to do it solo, it might not work out. If you use the build and gear setups in this guide, I’ll invite you to my guild and force FFA upon anyone with you whenever we’re on. If you’re not a big fan of Yiches then you can find your own friends, just make sure you have some when you go around forcing FFA. If you don’t force FFA then you’re going to have to 1v1 all the time and that’s not fun.

The only skill order I’ll focus on in this guide is as follows:

Why should you use this build and not modify it? Well, it’s perfect. Max heal is a given. You can’t call yourself support without max heal and a revive. Spending more than one point on revive is silly because it only lowers the cost of mana to use it, and that’s not worth your point. Five fire is just enough to give you twelve meter range, which this build would be nothing without. You really only need one frostbite, it’s mostly there to keep your opponent still long enough to either fire them or give you a quick getaway. Two life drain is useful because it damages your opponent and heals you, so this can save you against any class. Your last point is best spent on lightning because lightning is extremely useful for finishing people off or just damaging them when you have bears tanking for you. If you really want to you could trade out your lightning for a drain, but I think lightning will give you more bang for your buck. Keep in mind your drain is to keep you alive and living is a pre-requisite to doing good at anything, so you aren’t any less of a support mage because you don’t have de-buffs. Support mages can have a little drain and lightning too.

There are only four different gear load-outs that you should ever have to use on a seventeen support mage, and here they are in order of most used to lease:
L10 Sniper’s Archery Helm, L17 Forgotten bow, L15 Reinforced Artisan Leathers, L10 Fine Golden Band of Technique
L10 Sniper’s Archery Helm, L15 Fiendish Monkey Paw, L15 Reinforced Artisan Leathers, L15 Ghoulish Black Cat Shield, L10 Fine Golden Band of Technique
L10 Sniper’s Archery Helm, L15 Gruesome Pumpkin Chunker, L15 Reinforced Artisan Leathers, L10 Fine Golden Band of Technique
The last set is the L10 mage 4-item plat pack except for the shield. The shield is a purple L10 Cuddle-me Frost.
Save these all to your quick set change slots as Forgotten, Paw, Chunker, and Mana Regen, respectively. They’re all very much useful and I’d hate to have to PvP without even one of them. Your attribute points should be spent as follows:

The 5 Strength is to equip your Black cat shield when you’re using your paw. The dexterity is for high hit % and your forgotten bow, and the intelligence is for your mana regen set. Just a little insight into the gear you’ll be using so you can make an informed decision when using anything you read in this guide. Some people might say to you “y u no haz expert”, and usually a response of “I’m a support mage” should suffice, but for the real noobs out there who don’t understand, here it is. The difference between artisan and expert is armor and hit (artisan) vs. damage and crit (expert). You’re a support mage. You don’t need high crit or damage; you aren’t going for the kill. If you miss or die instantly, your teammates are not going to respect you as a support mage, which isn’t a good thing when you’re using a support skill build. You want to make the people you support happy so they will be more likely to help you when you need it, which will be often because you aren’t meant for 1v1s and you’ll probably be forced into a lot of unfair FFA’s (like 2v1, 3v2 and 3v1, sometimes even 1v1 is unfair if against a smart bird).

Hopefully the above paragraph also explains why you use an armor ring instead of a damage ring. The bird plat pack items give good hit % and bonuses all around, and there really isn’t much competition for helms at level 17, so those are an obvious necessity. The shield gives high armor, hit percentage and all around bonuses, so that’s why I go with it.
Your choice of sets is pretty dependent on the situation. You can switch it up a little if you want, but otherwise it’s pretty set-in-stone on which set should be used when. Firstly, the forgotten bow set. The forgotten bow has high damage, which isn’t usually something a support mage goes for. The high damage isn’t the main reason I like the forgotten bow for a 17 support mage. The -25 hit % de-buff will do wonders when paired with a bears stomp stun/hell scream, and it even does fine on its own if you know how to stay in 10 meter range. I would say it’s best to use a forgotten bow when you have a bear with 6 IB on your team, or 2 bears with or without IB. You could use it with birds on your team as well, but if you find yourself dying often because your birds are kiting, it would be wise to move to your next set.

Your next set is your paw and black cat shield. Using this set with a vanity helm that gives +1 armor and using the hidden buff of +1 armor that you get from using revive you can get to 42 armor. If you’re a founder that becomes 46, and at that point you’re a force to be reckoned with as a tank. Okay, maybe you’re not, but you can still take an extra buffed auto from a bear with all this extra armor. If you ever don’t know what set to use, this is your safest bet. It’s fairly effective against all class.

Your third set is the chunker set. I don’t use this much at all if ever, but it’s definitely useful. If you’re 1v1ing a bear or being 2v1ed by bears, this is a set you could consider using. With the build you have, only 1 point is invested in lightning so you aren’t missing out by staying 12 meters away at all times. Since the chunker is an x-bow, it has 13 meter range. Your fire, ice, and drain are all 12 meter range. If you kite properly, you can take on two mindless bears or one smart bear with this set alone. Winning 1v1s as a support mage is a big deal because not only can you beat your opponent, you can heal/revive your teammates in FFA which makes you an essential member to any team.
This set is no doubt useful against bears, but it really shines against 17 nuke mages. Nuke mages generally have high lightning. Funny thing about lightning is, it only works in 8 meter range. If you suspect your opponent is packing some high lightning, stay somewhere between 9-12 meters away until they start to run back. Don’t let them away from your auto attack unless they’re using a chunker as well and you goofed up and let them hit you with lightning. If they’re using a 10 meter range weapon then stay at 10-12 meters for an easy win. Don’t forget that your ice and fire can combo for a high amount of damage. If you see your opponent is really running, ice them and go for a lightning. Oh, and make sure to heal at late enough so that none of your heal is wasted but not so late that you get really low.

Lastly you have your regen set. It’s pretty self explanatory. If you’re far away from your opponents but low on mana, switch to this set. If you think you and your teammate can beat your opponent(s) with you using a regen set, go for it, but beware, your auto attack won’t do much.

One thing you will find used against you a lot is dirty tactics. The one I see most of is leaving mid-fight and mid-game. This is great and all, but 90% of the time they come right back. Since they’re sure they will die anyway, most bears will leave when their buff runs out and they’re low on hp. Birds will do the same if you manage to get them low. Very rarely will you find an opponent stick around and try to kill you twice once they kill you, they will pretty much always leave and come back with full health and buffs. Another thing people will do, especially when you rush everyone, is not just 3v1 you but also fill up your team with idle/sitting players so you have no chance to fight back. Just leave games like this, you’re a support mage, stay with your team. The best way to fight dirty tactics is to always have someone you’re supporting.

Tree-hugging is another borderline dirty tactic you will see a lot of in any kind of FFA. Don’t get close. Just don’t. Let your teammate force them out and you can go to town from there. If you don’t have a teammate, a little baiting can work wonders. Other players might use trash-talk to get someone to start typing and then get them when they aren’t ready. Be careful not to take it too far, there are kids playing.
Well, you have the build, the skills, the items to use and all the tips you can imagine, now what? Level a toon! Buy the gear! Join <Sit>! Type /f sit in chat! Grab some friends! KILL EVERYTHING!!!