Laar
05-03-2014, 11:18 AM
Hello PL Community! After recieving so much gratitude from my L51 Pure Int Mage guide, I decided to make another Pure Int Mage guide, only this time, it's in the L56 range. I hope you guys find the following helpful, and don't forget to click the Thanks button below!
Introduction
There are some things that you need to keep in mind before reading this guide. I am going to answer some questions that would help bear these things in mind.
Why Pure Int?
Pure Int mages have more skill damage, a larger mana pool, more mana regen, and a higher heal. The reason why skill damage and a heal is important is pretty much self - explanatory, but the reason why more mana regen and a larger mana pool is important is because your Mana Shield is one of your main defenses as a squishy Mage, and to maintain your mana well, you need a big mana pool and a lot of mana regen.
What's so good about being a Mage?
The reason people choose to play as a Mage is because its a great support class with a nice amount of damage and crit (in some cases). In the following guide, we will focus on being both of these.
Do I have to follow this guide to become a successful Mage?
Absolutely not! The purpose of guides is to "guide" you through so you can figure it out yourself. Change my playstyle however you'd like to fit your personal needs.
Builds
Before getting into the strategies and finding out how to play your class, you have to find out what you're playing as! I am going to be explaining all the builds that will be used in this guide.
By the way, huge thanks to synfullmagic_23110 for all the pictures that he provided!
The following image will be showing the skill build:
86890
Now, some people who has read my last guide might disaprove that I'm using 1 Icestorm when I could put that extra point into a debuff. I do that with a L51 Mage because you need all the points you can get to put into a single debuff, but as you have a significant greater amount of skill points in L56, you can chose to put just 1 tiny point into Icestorm for a bit of extra damage. After all, you have 2 debuffs, so it's no biggie.
Plus, an extra ice debuff really helps in some sticky situations. It also calls for some good strategies, especially against mages.
You can still chose to put the extra point into a debuff instead of Icestorm: it's all about preference. You can change this build however you'd like to. :)
Another thing proposed to me is the option to give up your Revive for another extra point into a debuff. At this level range of PvP, I NEVER give up a Revive for anything; this covers your support role very well and people are dependent on your Revive. Again, you can take off the Revive, but I don't recommend doing so.
The first loadout is a Charmin' Wand Set:
86894
This set will probably be the one you'll be using most, as it's really balanced stat - wise. You have the skill damage needed and the mana pool and regen very high for that defensive Mana Shield to remain maintained. With this set, you aren't as squishy, and you can still deal a bunch of damage. What also makes you not too squishy is your high health regen, and a pretty good amount of armor. Health regen isn't a priority as a mage, but that extra regen could help a lot.
The second loadout is a Charmin' Staff Set:
86887
There are 2 main aspects of being a Pure Int Mage: Having more skill damage and mana (survivalbility). The Charmin' Wand set covers more of the mana aspect, so this set will cover more of the damge aspect. With this, you have close to the max damage as a L56 Pure Mage. On top of the awesome damage, you also keep the crit from the wand set, so it makes it nukier. Keep in mind that you're giving up about 40 armor for about 20 skill damage which isn't a fair trade, so don't use it too often. In some cases though, you can pull this set out and nuke if you're willing to give up a bunch of armor because of the situation.
Strategies
So now you know what you're playing as, now you have to play it!
Before I jump into how to beat a specific class, you need to know what you can do as your class! I'm going to be explaining stuff that people don't usually look into, although I'm sure a bunch of you know all this stuff already. This is just a friendly reminder, because you need to keep this stuff in mind when I explain how to beat each specific class. This is partly to also help change someone's playstyle, because you're not supposed to follow EXACTLY everything I say in the v.s. class section. If you're stuck, use one of these strategies depending on the situation.
Lightning debuffs stack! Spam this skill; -5 dmg, armor, and -3 hit might not seem like a lot, but when it stacks it could become deadly.
Frostbite has a longer freeze debuff than its cooldown, so you can actually make an opponent stand still forever if he doesn't dodge forever.
If you want to run from your opponent, try the reverse of the combo. Instead of Frostbite - Firestorm, use Firestorm - Frostbite. Knock him back with Firestorm, and then use Frostbite to make him stand still.
Learn to time your Mana Shield. It has a 2 second delay on skill activation, so if you do It too early or too slow you'll be screwed.
You should also practice a few things while journeying through your PvP career as a mage.
- Learn your range, especially the difference between 12m and 8m. Those two distances is where most of your skills will hit.
- Study cooldown, including your cooldown and the opponent's cooldown. This could help a ton, because then you'll know when advantages and disadvantages take into play.
- Use a skill map that you don't have to look at to activate skills. This is essential, many players don't focus on the match and only focus on tapping skills.
- Learn when and not when to use skills. This applies with the aspect of cooldown. If you waste a skill, you're going to be at a disadvantage in an engaged fight.
Now, I am going to be explaining how to play against specific classes. This is important because you need to know how to play against what you're facing against.
Against Bears: This is probably going to be your toughest opponent, since they have a pull and OP damage + armor. The key is to land your debuffs (Nightmare and Weakness) and you'll have a good chance of winning. There are two ways to engage a fight against a bear: Using Firestorm or using Frostbite first. If you use Firestorm first, it isn't necessarily to knock the opponent bear out of range of beckon. The knockback of the Firestorm is too little to do that, because of two factors: Global Cooldown and a range glitch where if you step back, you lose 2m range while the opponent gains 2m. No, the reason of using Firestorm first is that if he hits Beckon, you'll knock him back far enough so he won't be in range to use Crushing Blow (a debuff that you can't heal off) and some slashes. The Frostbite engage is an engage where you take advantage of the opponent's cooldown time. Beckon is surely going to hit, unless you're super lucky. If your Frostbite hits though, you'll have him pinned, unable to move, when he engages the fight and starts dealing damage with Beckon. He could stomp out, but you have an extra ice debuff (Icestorm if you're using it), causing immobility until Stomp is done cooling down. Once successfully engaged, hit those debuffs, but once it lands, walk out of range quickly before the bear uses Hell Scream and slashes to stun you. Time your heals and drains to get out of stuns and maintain your health. Keep him still by spamming Frostbite, and if he hits beckon, use that extra ice debuff (Icestorm). Continue to kite and deal damage, and hopefully the opponent will go down.
Against Birds: These guys are also hard to beat since they can pop your mana shield and nuke you, but it's equally hard for the opponent. The bird has to wait until you hit that Mana Shield, and that takes precision. If you early MS to block that blast shot, it could go bad as some birds are smart and will just repulse after it breaks, making that MS useless. In fact, I've seen some pesky Obededience birds spamming repulse until you're FORCED to hit the MS for the fight to continue. Pay attention to the opponent's engaging skill so you can make your counter engage. If they chose to Repluse, don't freak out and MS. If they chose to Blind, find out what their next skill is. Just use a skill that you think is good. Now, once you start the fight, you have to control the bird by spamming Frostbite, and birds have only 1 deroot with a long cooldown. Take advantage of cooldown once again, especially paying attention to Blast (MS breaker), Repluse (Knockback), and Avian (Deroot). If you see the opponent use Blast into your health bar while his Repluse is cooling down, use Mana Shield. The bird won't be able to repluse you away to avoid a nuke or pop the Mana Shield. Try this for a combo: Drain - Frostbite - Lightning - Firestorm. It's a good nuking combo, and could kill squishy birds.
Against Mages: At this point, it all depends on skill or luck - based fators, as you and the opponent are the same class (although your opponent might be a bow user or a pally). What's important is your timing of your Mana Shield. Depending on the situation, you can late MS, so, if both you and your opponent are doing damage at the same rate, then your opponent would run out of mana (technically speaking in some cases). In other situations, you can early MS so you won't get nuked while safely going for your nuke. An early MS is also good for forcing the other mage to MS as well, since if they don't, they'd either have to kite your nuke extremely well or die from Drain - Frostbite - Fire. Make sure if you MS, the opponent has no escape. Otherwise, they could just knock you back with Firestorm and pin you with Frostbite and run, wasting your MS. Don't waste your drain, it has a long cooldown and has a fairly long cooldown. Only use drain if you feel like you will make a successful nuke. Spam your Lightning: it does decent damage and you need to output all your damage against a mage to turn the odds to your favor.
Against Foxes: With 2 dashes, a pull, and a deroot, these guys are tricky. If they get close to you, they can nuke you in literally a split 1-3 seconds UNLESS you use your Mana Shield. Keep them at a distance with your Firestorm and Frostbite, you need to kite these guys.
Eventually you will be able to finish them off, they're pretty helpless at a distance.
Against Rhinos: You don't see many of these guys around, but they aren't that hard. Although there are some annoying Fury Fighter rhinos that never die, they should be pretty easy to beat. They consume a lot of mana quickly, and they also have low hit, which means you can spam Lightning for the debuffs and use your Weakness for the extra hit debuff. They'll pretty much be useless by then.
How to CTF as a Mage: Yep, that's right! I'm also including a mini - section of how to CTF. CTF is a big part of PvP, in fact that's how PvP is designed to be. You need to know how to play your support role well. The most important thing about being a support is that you have to watch your teammates' health! Time your heals so you can heal your whole team, and revive if you have to. Don't get caught in the middle of a team fight, you're squishy and if you get stuck in the middle you're screwed. As a support, you also have to help your team get kills, so spam those AoE skills and debuffs. When you're nuking, target the squishyist and finish him off so he won't be a bother in the team fight. When your tank retrieves the flag, you have to cover for him and help clear the way. Don't worry about getting kills or dying, this is not a Deathmatch. You have to make sacrifices to win a CTF.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think Mages are very fun and viable to play! They are all around, with defenses, offences, and support skils! I hope this guide interests you or helps you, if so, click the Thanks button below. Have fun playing as a Mage at L56! :D
Introduction
There are some things that you need to keep in mind before reading this guide. I am going to answer some questions that would help bear these things in mind.
Why Pure Int?
Pure Int mages have more skill damage, a larger mana pool, more mana regen, and a higher heal. The reason why skill damage and a heal is important is pretty much self - explanatory, but the reason why more mana regen and a larger mana pool is important is because your Mana Shield is one of your main defenses as a squishy Mage, and to maintain your mana well, you need a big mana pool and a lot of mana regen.
What's so good about being a Mage?
The reason people choose to play as a Mage is because its a great support class with a nice amount of damage and crit (in some cases). In the following guide, we will focus on being both of these.
Do I have to follow this guide to become a successful Mage?
Absolutely not! The purpose of guides is to "guide" you through so you can figure it out yourself. Change my playstyle however you'd like to fit your personal needs.
Builds
Before getting into the strategies and finding out how to play your class, you have to find out what you're playing as! I am going to be explaining all the builds that will be used in this guide.
By the way, huge thanks to synfullmagic_23110 for all the pictures that he provided!
The following image will be showing the skill build:
86890
Now, some people who has read my last guide might disaprove that I'm using 1 Icestorm when I could put that extra point into a debuff. I do that with a L51 Mage because you need all the points you can get to put into a single debuff, but as you have a significant greater amount of skill points in L56, you can chose to put just 1 tiny point into Icestorm for a bit of extra damage. After all, you have 2 debuffs, so it's no biggie.
Plus, an extra ice debuff really helps in some sticky situations. It also calls for some good strategies, especially against mages.
You can still chose to put the extra point into a debuff instead of Icestorm: it's all about preference. You can change this build however you'd like to. :)
Another thing proposed to me is the option to give up your Revive for another extra point into a debuff. At this level range of PvP, I NEVER give up a Revive for anything; this covers your support role very well and people are dependent on your Revive. Again, you can take off the Revive, but I don't recommend doing so.
The first loadout is a Charmin' Wand Set:
86894
This set will probably be the one you'll be using most, as it's really balanced stat - wise. You have the skill damage needed and the mana pool and regen very high for that defensive Mana Shield to remain maintained. With this set, you aren't as squishy, and you can still deal a bunch of damage. What also makes you not too squishy is your high health regen, and a pretty good amount of armor. Health regen isn't a priority as a mage, but that extra regen could help a lot.
The second loadout is a Charmin' Staff Set:
86887
There are 2 main aspects of being a Pure Int Mage: Having more skill damage and mana (survivalbility). The Charmin' Wand set covers more of the mana aspect, so this set will cover more of the damge aspect. With this, you have close to the max damage as a L56 Pure Mage. On top of the awesome damage, you also keep the crit from the wand set, so it makes it nukier. Keep in mind that you're giving up about 40 armor for about 20 skill damage which isn't a fair trade, so don't use it too often. In some cases though, you can pull this set out and nuke if you're willing to give up a bunch of armor because of the situation.
Strategies
So now you know what you're playing as, now you have to play it!
Before I jump into how to beat a specific class, you need to know what you can do as your class! I'm going to be explaining stuff that people don't usually look into, although I'm sure a bunch of you know all this stuff already. This is just a friendly reminder, because you need to keep this stuff in mind when I explain how to beat each specific class. This is partly to also help change someone's playstyle, because you're not supposed to follow EXACTLY everything I say in the v.s. class section. If you're stuck, use one of these strategies depending on the situation.
Lightning debuffs stack! Spam this skill; -5 dmg, armor, and -3 hit might not seem like a lot, but when it stacks it could become deadly.
Frostbite has a longer freeze debuff than its cooldown, so you can actually make an opponent stand still forever if he doesn't dodge forever.
If you want to run from your opponent, try the reverse of the combo. Instead of Frostbite - Firestorm, use Firestorm - Frostbite. Knock him back with Firestorm, and then use Frostbite to make him stand still.
Learn to time your Mana Shield. It has a 2 second delay on skill activation, so if you do It too early or too slow you'll be screwed.
You should also practice a few things while journeying through your PvP career as a mage.
- Learn your range, especially the difference between 12m and 8m. Those two distances is where most of your skills will hit.
- Study cooldown, including your cooldown and the opponent's cooldown. This could help a ton, because then you'll know when advantages and disadvantages take into play.
- Use a skill map that you don't have to look at to activate skills. This is essential, many players don't focus on the match and only focus on tapping skills.
- Learn when and not when to use skills. This applies with the aspect of cooldown. If you waste a skill, you're going to be at a disadvantage in an engaged fight.
Now, I am going to be explaining how to play against specific classes. This is important because you need to know how to play against what you're facing against.
Against Bears: This is probably going to be your toughest opponent, since they have a pull and OP damage + armor. The key is to land your debuffs (Nightmare and Weakness) and you'll have a good chance of winning. There are two ways to engage a fight against a bear: Using Firestorm or using Frostbite first. If you use Firestorm first, it isn't necessarily to knock the opponent bear out of range of beckon. The knockback of the Firestorm is too little to do that, because of two factors: Global Cooldown and a range glitch where if you step back, you lose 2m range while the opponent gains 2m. No, the reason of using Firestorm first is that if he hits Beckon, you'll knock him back far enough so he won't be in range to use Crushing Blow (a debuff that you can't heal off) and some slashes. The Frostbite engage is an engage where you take advantage of the opponent's cooldown time. Beckon is surely going to hit, unless you're super lucky. If your Frostbite hits though, you'll have him pinned, unable to move, when he engages the fight and starts dealing damage with Beckon. He could stomp out, but you have an extra ice debuff (Icestorm if you're using it), causing immobility until Stomp is done cooling down. Once successfully engaged, hit those debuffs, but once it lands, walk out of range quickly before the bear uses Hell Scream and slashes to stun you. Time your heals and drains to get out of stuns and maintain your health. Keep him still by spamming Frostbite, and if he hits beckon, use that extra ice debuff (Icestorm). Continue to kite and deal damage, and hopefully the opponent will go down.
Against Birds: These guys are also hard to beat since they can pop your mana shield and nuke you, but it's equally hard for the opponent. The bird has to wait until you hit that Mana Shield, and that takes precision. If you early MS to block that blast shot, it could go bad as some birds are smart and will just repulse after it breaks, making that MS useless. In fact, I've seen some pesky Obededience birds spamming repulse until you're FORCED to hit the MS for the fight to continue. Pay attention to the opponent's engaging skill so you can make your counter engage. If they chose to Repluse, don't freak out and MS. If they chose to Blind, find out what their next skill is. Just use a skill that you think is good. Now, once you start the fight, you have to control the bird by spamming Frostbite, and birds have only 1 deroot with a long cooldown. Take advantage of cooldown once again, especially paying attention to Blast (MS breaker), Repluse (Knockback), and Avian (Deroot). If you see the opponent use Blast into your health bar while his Repluse is cooling down, use Mana Shield. The bird won't be able to repluse you away to avoid a nuke or pop the Mana Shield. Try this for a combo: Drain - Frostbite - Lightning - Firestorm. It's a good nuking combo, and could kill squishy birds.
Against Mages: At this point, it all depends on skill or luck - based fators, as you and the opponent are the same class (although your opponent might be a bow user or a pally). What's important is your timing of your Mana Shield. Depending on the situation, you can late MS, so, if both you and your opponent are doing damage at the same rate, then your opponent would run out of mana (technically speaking in some cases). In other situations, you can early MS so you won't get nuked while safely going for your nuke. An early MS is also good for forcing the other mage to MS as well, since if they don't, they'd either have to kite your nuke extremely well or die from Drain - Frostbite - Fire. Make sure if you MS, the opponent has no escape. Otherwise, they could just knock you back with Firestorm and pin you with Frostbite and run, wasting your MS. Don't waste your drain, it has a long cooldown and has a fairly long cooldown. Only use drain if you feel like you will make a successful nuke. Spam your Lightning: it does decent damage and you need to output all your damage against a mage to turn the odds to your favor.
Against Foxes: With 2 dashes, a pull, and a deroot, these guys are tricky. If they get close to you, they can nuke you in literally a split 1-3 seconds UNLESS you use your Mana Shield. Keep them at a distance with your Firestorm and Frostbite, you need to kite these guys.
Eventually you will be able to finish them off, they're pretty helpless at a distance.
Against Rhinos: You don't see many of these guys around, but they aren't that hard. Although there are some annoying Fury Fighter rhinos that never die, they should be pretty easy to beat. They consume a lot of mana quickly, and they also have low hit, which means you can spam Lightning for the debuffs and use your Weakness for the extra hit debuff. They'll pretty much be useless by then.
How to CTF as a Mage: Yep, that's right! I'm also including a mini - section of how to CTF. CTF is a big part of PvP, in fact that's how PvP is designed to be. You need to know how to play your support role well. The most important thing about being a support is that you have to watch your teammates' health! Time your heals so you can heal your whole team, and revive if you have to. Don't get caught in the middle of a team fight, you're squishy and if you get stuck in the middle you're screwed. As a support, you also have to help your team get kills, so spam those AoE skills and debuffs. When you're nuking, target the squishyist and finish him off so he won't be a bother in the team fight. When your tank retrieves the flag, you have to cover for him and help clear the way. Don't worry about getting kills or dying, this is not a Deathmatch. You have to make sacrifices to win a CTF.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think Mages are very fun and viable to play! They are all around, with defenses, offences, and support skils! I hope this guide interests you or helps you, if so, click the Thanks button below. Have fun playing as a Mage at L56! :D