Dual build int/str?

[Lesrider]

My Mage has always been an int Mage (with a bit of dex). But I looted a screaming shield last night and now I'm debating whether to try a dual build str/int for my Mage or just stay Mage and sell the shield. Any dual builds these days? Is it a good build after the update? I'm not a huge fan of hand-to-hand combat, but I do like the idea of extra armor and possibly tanking. So should I do it? At the very least it'd give me a new goal, as right now I'm kinda bored.

If I do decide to do it, what equipment do I need for it to work and what stats? Thanks.

[Ellyidol]

Personally I'm str/int pally. I used to be pure. It's still pretty good after update especially with emphasis on skills. Not much hand to hand combat aside from the small hits you put in while casting spells, or just that one hit to kill a mob. I dual with int since i still want as much heal, spell damage and mana despite using rift.

I use a rift set and dont regret it one bit. I find it way better than the squishy cosmos mage i used to have. The rift and less int reduces your heal by like 20 points i think. I think it cuts down your lightning damage max points by 40 but thats the most it does.

I like it better since i can survive heaps easier making it easier for me to combo skills instead of catching aggro every time and dying if i mess up. Never switched back to my cosmos yet since i switched

[Kalielle]

Yes, do it!!!!!! Str/int dual rocks ever since the updates! Just consider: rift has mana regen, int mages were boosted and a keepers staff useful for clearing but still need survivability for rushing, and more emphasis on spells means lots of int makes sense even for a non-dual pala. I abandoned my dex mage in favor of my int/str dual and rarely use anything else for farming. I use the Keeper's Staff for the clearing part, then when it comes to the rush I just switch to str and never have to worry about a thing. Don't even need to armor pot for Overlord!

For other maps it's really convenient too. Like yesterday I was leveling some friends in Map 2 with my Keepers Staff, and when Mynas spawned I just changed to str and voila, we had a tank. And for the Keeper I could choose to go str for easy tanking, or stay with the staff if we really needed more dps. (Yes, I can tank Keeper unpotted with my staff mage after the latest nerf. No, it's not fun.)

Oh, and I can solo farm the first boss in nighmares with my str side without much difficulty, whereas with an int mage I die a lot more. Scimitar soul leech really saves the day there.

My build is 128 str/125 int/2 dex naked. You need at least 125 to equip a two-handed weapon, so the minimum for int is 125 and for str 125 if you ever want to equip a hammer.

I wear full cosmos with keeper's staff, and full rift set on the str side. My mana regen with the staff is 12, and on the str side it's 10 (not too bad!). Str side health pool is 536, armor 134.

Lower level gear for quick switching takes some figuring out. Ideally you want str Thoth level 40 pieces for building the int side, and Osiris pieces plus zuraz plasma (level 43 works great) for the str side. Also if you go only 125 int you will need a wand and shield (Thoth works fine if you don't have cosmos) for one step switching to cosmos robe and helm from the lower level gear - then from there it's easy to equip the staff.

Anyway, I'd be happy to help out if you have questions. Add Clusterstorm - I'm online a lot these days. (I know I have you on Kalielle but I don't use her that often these days - for the reasons described above. )

[Lesrider]

Cool, you've almost convinced me. It does sound like fun. I haven't been using my bear since the latest update, so I can strip him of his rift and give it to my mage

I am a bit confused on the lower-lvl gear. I want to make sure I can get the cheapest pieces I need. I've already sold most of my pinks I wasn't using, so will probably have to buy. And they all have to be lvl 40, not 45 right? Sounds pricy.
And why Zuraz plasma? I have a lvl 45 -- would that work?

I do have Clusterstorm on one of my chars, probably my Mage (I think we were farming shock lances a little while back).

[Kalielle]

To be honest I mostly figure out the low lever gear by experimentation too, so I don't know all the combinations that would work. Let me see if I can explain as best what I know - it's gonna be a bit complicated but bear with me.

There are two issues with the low level gear: 1) what gear do you absolutely need, because you can't equip the level 50 pieces otherwise; and 2) what gear you ideally want so that you can go from one build to the other using the quick load slots.

Let me take on the first question because it's much simpler. You need 154 str or int to equip a level 50 helm, so that's what you need to be aiming for. (All other level 50 stuff requires 158, but the helm really saves you. Once you equip the helm you get plus 11 boost so you can equip the 158 stuff.) So if you'll have, say 125 in a stat naked, then 154 minus 125 is 29, so that's how many points you need to get from gear to equip the helm. So you can do 3 pieces that add 7 in that stat (there are lots of them, even some level 19 pinks will work) and one that adds 8. Or you could go 126 in that stat and then four 7 pieces will work (4x7 = 28...). So if you go at least 126 in both str and int then you'll only need pinks that add 7 int or str.

I hope the above makes sense... The idea is to just do the math and see how many points you need. If you go 126 in both stats it should be easy to find some cheap low level pinks out there that add plus 7 int/str. Look for one handed gear and shield of course, so you can wear 4 pieces not 3.

Now, the second question is whether you can save your build with your lower level gear in a quick load slot and your higher level gear build in another quick load slot, and go from naked to quick load slot 1 to quick load 2 without your gear being unequipped because you don't meet the requirements. Well, this works with some gear and not with others, and for no reason that I can figure out. I think it has to do with the order in which PL equips your gear and calculates your requirements when you quick load gear. This is the part for which I found it helps to have low level pinks that add 8 in a stat - meaning level 40 (and maybe 41) stuff. Zuraz - either lance or plasma - adds 9 str which is really neat; you don't strictly need it at all, I just found it helps me quick load builds that you'd think you couldn't load at once. Level 45 might work just fine - really a question of experimenting at that point.

[Lesrider]

Ok, so can I ask you exactly which items you use for all that? Then I can shop around and see if it's viable. Right now I don't really have any items lower than lvl 45 (maybe 1 or two lvl 41 or 43 but doubt they're the right ones) and I don't want to buy a whole bunch of items just to find out it won't work!

Thanks again!

[Kalielle]

Int intermediate build (requires 127 str to equip these items):
All lev 40 Thoth: mynas helm, djinn spear, thoth mail, pharaos shield.

Int final build with wand (can't quick load staff):
cosmos helm
cosmos robe
level 50 djinn wand of thoth (other levels work too)
lev 40 pharaos shield of thoth
(Cosmos wand and eye would work too, it's just that I'm using them on my other mage).

Str intermediate build (works for 128 str, don't know for others):
Lev 25 conquerors ursan helm (any plus 7 str item will do)
Lev 43 or 45 Zuraz
lev 45 mynas plate of Osiris
Lev 45 Osiris buckler

Str final build: full rift 4 piece

I actually just tried the above build with the 3 level 45 items and you can quick load it from naked in one move.

But you will still need some plus 7 items to build the build for the first time. You can quick load it if you have it saved, but you can't do it if you equip items one by one.
I'd be happy to lend you some plus 7 stuff if you like. Also, I bought a lev 40 mynas thoth plate for 25k yesterday - if you need it I'll sell it at that price.

[Typhee]

Kalielle conviced me ! I'm going str/int with my mage. I'm just missing sun scim and laser wand and buying them for reasonable price.

@Lesrider I already have my bear str/dex and to load my rift and void I'm using the pinks iceberg and shivering from FN. I guess I'll do the same for str/int and have some extra to sell if you interested.

@Kalielle I have some question too, for my bear I have 125 str / 129 dex. Can I do 125 str and 129 int on my mage or better 127/127. If I put 125 str can I wear Gurg hammer or how much str I need minimum if I want to use it ? Tyvm

[Lesrider]

Wow, sounds like I have to do some shopping around.

I feel like such a moron right now, but which items can be borrowed temporarily and which ones are needed for the loadouts?

And Kalielle, how come you have two mages? Do you still use your int Mage at all?

[Kalielle]

I feel like such a moron right now, but which items can be borrowed temporarily and which ones are needed for the loadouts?

A plus 7 helm, a lev 45 zuraz and 2 level 45 osiris worked for me for the build that's needed for the loadout. So you would need to have those permanently. (If you have lower level zuraz and osiris those are good too.) If you're going with the level 45 stuff for the load out you'll need to borrow some plus 7 items to bridge the gap and equip them the first time. Because think about it, you'll have 128 str, you equip the helm and it's gonna be 128 plus 7 equals 135 str... now what? You can't equip level 45 stuff yet, you have to have some stuff that requires only 135 str and adds 7 bonus, and that's mainly lev 35 (or maybe 39) and lower str stuff. Once you equip one of those then you'll have 135+7 = 142, which I believe is the requirement for level 45 gear - so now the last 2 pieces can be level 45. So I guess you'd need just one other low level plus 7 item temporarily.

Yes, I am just thinking through this as I type it, so no guarantees. But I hope from reading it you can see what the though process is when you figure out what will work and what won't.

Typhee - glad to hear I'm having such influence! I think you are given 2 points in dex as a mage that you can't remove, so you can't do 125/129, but you can do 125/128 or 126/127 in any combination you choose - I don't see why any would be better than the other, except maybe if you have 127 str you can use a lev 41 Osiris shield instead of the Gur eye if you're gonna be using wand, which gives you more armor. But then again if you're dual I see no reason to use the wand much, if you need survivability just switch to str.

You can wear the hammer with 125 str. As far as I know all level 50 rifts require at most 158 str (but don't just take my word please, do double check requirements on any pieces of gear that you know you absolutely want to wear!) So work backwards from that to figure out the bare minimum requirement: with a hammer you can only wear 3 pieces and they each give you plus 11 str. 158 minus 3x11 is 125. So that's why 125 is the minimum for two handed weapons, like staff blaster and hammer. (Btw you might think that by the same logic you would only need 158 minus 4x11 equals 114 str if you're only ever going to use four pieces - but that would actually be too little str because you have no intermediate pieces to bridge the gap to 154 to equip the helm.)

And Kalielle, how come you have two mages? Do you still use your int Mage at all?

Haha, loong story. Back in the days of AO2 bear rushing I wanted to do an experiment, to see if I could build the perfect rush paladin and be good enough to get accepted in all my bear groups which booted non-bears - without telling them who I was. (What can I say, I had a lot of free time on my hands. ) So that's how Clusterstorm was born - and yes incidentally he did very well rushing with all the bears, and especially in map 5 with all the mummy debuffs he came in very handy. Ah, I miss the good old days. Anyways, so Kalielle is now pure int for maximum spellpower, and I use her mainly for casual clearing games and when I like the challenge of working together with a tank - because she is quite fragile.

[Lesrider]

Before I start spending money on all those items -- do you notice a big difference in spell effectiveness, hit %, etc? I like that my Mage can nuke everything now -- not sure yet that I'm ready to give that up, if there's a noticeable difference from having all that strength.

[Typhee]

Well I checked with my dual bear, with 125 str and 129 dex.
I first load my Iceberg gears then my Rift and I can equip the gurg hammer at the end.
So 125 str is enough. I will go with 125 str and 128 int and hope I will enjoy my dual mage ^^.

[Kalielle]

Typhee, I just remembered if you're gonna use lev 40 Thoths for the intermediate build, then you want 127 in str at least. (There is no level 40 int Thoth.)

[Typhee]

I'll use Frozen Nightmare gears and for helms int and str I have lvl 25 of each

[Lesrider]

Got it all working. Thanks Kalielle for the help. I hope I enjoy my dual wield as much as you do

[Lesrider]

Gotta say, though, my now-naked bear is very sad.

[Lesrider]

So far really liking my new build . It's nice to be able to switch to pally if it turns out to be a weak team. That way if everyone else is dying, at least I don't

[Typhee]

Omg cant wait to respec, I need sun scim so bad lol

[Kalielle]

Gotta say, though, my now-naked bear is very sad.

Rofl!!

So far really liking my new build . It's nice to be able to switch to pally if it turns out to be a weak team. That way if everyone else is dying, at least I don't

Yeah, I farmed Victory a lot this morning and the 4 other team members were bow/blaster birds. Great team, but def needed a tank - so I just used my pala side and had no problems. Imagine what that would have been like with int mage...

[Lesrider]

I still prefer to have one bear tank (for the skills), but yeah, I make a pretty decent tank now

Omg it makes such a difference when you have a team that knows what it's doing. Had a few motley crews last night, and people were just dying all over the place (mostly bc our bear liked to smash barrels into everyone, when he's supposed to be rushing and keeping us safe!). Then today I was playing with a solid group of friends and the bosses all went down so fast. It's a pretty good argument for not even playing if your friends aren't around...