Guide: The Mage Kills The Maul!

[Instanthumor]

Hello squishy mages of AL! Ever since PvP came out, there was always the problem that mages could never kill a skilled warrior in a 1v1. Well I've come here with a solution.

First off, you need THE build, and THE build consists of the following:

4/5 Shield - without the knockback
4/5 Fireball - without the increased range upgrade
3/5 Lightning - with the increased damage upgrade and the additional damage on crit upgrade
3/5 Frost - with Jagged Ice and Shiver upgrades (I believe they are the DoT and increased freeze/stun upgrades)
2/5 Lifegiver - with the mana upgrade (the mana upgrade is optional)

5/5 INT
5/5 STR
5/5 DEX
5/5 Crit
4/5 Damage

If you hadn't noticed, the use of five skills is essential. Note that I am not promoting any form of hotkeys or whatever, but the use of five skills is a tactic. If you want to argue with the fact that the use of five skills is a tactic or not, please flame the other 'five skill' threads and not this one. I would appreciate that very much.

Gear (edited):

Mythic/arcane gear is HIGHLY recommended, but I am not saying that it is impossible to kill a warrior without full mythics and arcanes. For in fact, it is possible. The current equips I use are the Expedition Rifle of Brutality (notice it is of 'Brutality' and not of 'Assault'; remember, 100+ hp > 3.0 damage), upgraded mythic helm and armor, Archon Ring of Brutality (INT/STR), and Tarlok Heart of Brutality (surprisingly enough, the Archon ring and the Tarlok amulet is still pretty top notch for this season. Of course, you can get yourself an Archon ring Lv. 40-41 now, and the only amulet comparable to the Tarlok amulet is the Lunar pendant, however, Tarlok amulet gives more HP and a slight armor bonus sufficing little damage and some crit, which is pretty useful. Remember, tank the tank). And even with these lame equips, killing a warrior 1v1 is more than possible. Note that every item I used have some form of the STR stat in it. The STR stat is really, really important for us mages. Not only is it the main source of HP, but it helps our shield last longer. Even against warriors, our shields do not last the full 15 seconds, since warriors can dish out so much damage nowadays. For more information about the Arcane Shield, feel free to visit this thread. http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...s-as-of-5-7-13

Pet:

Any pet that gives a decent amount of INT, damage, STR, or crit is great. The best pet against a warrior would be, without a doubt, Samael. This is more of a personal preference, but I absolutely love to use Colton. Even though it slightly lacks HP, it works wonders, with the arcane ability to give 15% crit for 6 seconds and it has a great passive attack that has a very high chance to stun (this has saved my life numeral times). Unfortunately, I'd like to emphasize that Slag or Grimm are not very good pets to use against a warrior in 1v1. Even though Slag gives more movement speed, and even though it stuns well, it gives absolutely no crit at all. When 1v1ing a warrior, crit is your BFFF, and I mean it. If I were given the option to use HJ, Glacian, Colton, or even the Whim Bros, I would take Colton without hesitation. And good news, Colton has become less than 100k, so it is relatively affordable!

EDIT: Shadowlurk is superior to Colton in my opinion. You can easily finish off any warrior that underestimates your damage output in less than 2 seconds! The 20% crit and 20% damage buff from Shadowlurk is heaven. However unlike Colton, Shadowlurk has no stun on its passive ability, so you can't rely on Colton's lucky stun.

The Fight:

This is the most important part of this guide. How to fight the warrior. On your skill HUD, start of with the following skills: Shield, Lightning, Ice, and Fireball. At the 'Go', tap the arcane ability of Colton (let's say you are using Colton), charge Lightning, tap Ice, charge Fireball. It is important to always charge Fireball because charged Fireball decreases the hit chance of the warrior by a whooping 25%. It makes a big difference in the long run. After you charged Lightning, tapped Ice, and charged Fireball, do it again. Note to yourself, the only time you should charge Lightning is when Colton's arcane ability is active, which will inflict devastating damage upon opponent at the critical hit. Now by this time, the warrior would heal, and cast their two seconds of invulnerability. Always keep your distance from the target. This will help so that the warrior won't have much effect for DPS attacks, and hopefully, the maul will not proc AT you. You can also evade certain skills such as Chest Splitter or Windmill. So by the time the warrior cast his heal, you should be around 20-50% HP. When you are at 20-35% HP, this is when you charge your beloved shield. Next, QUICKLY switch skills (switch the shield with Lifegiver). Note that one false misclick might result in your defeat. As soon as you switch to Lifegiver and exited the skill menu, charge heal, cast it, and pray a thousand times that the warrior will not stun you in this period. With Colton, I have just about 3-3.2k HP, and charged Lifegiver heals about 70-80% of my health which is a game changer! At this time, tap Lightning, tap Ice, and charge Fireball. Note that you should always hit Lightning first, then Ice. This is because Lightning is your primary attack/damage skill, and Ice deals the second most damage. At this point of time, Colton's arcane ability will probably finish cooling down, so activate it, charge Lightning, tap Ice, charge Fireball, and repeat these three steps. By the time you are done, the warrior's Juggernaut had probably ended. Now the reason why you do not activate shield in the beginning of the battle is because it will be a waste. You will be able to absorb more damage using shield later, than using it in the beginning. I hope you understood that, for it is very important. Also, don't forget to charge your DPS attack every so often inbetween skill cooldowns. This will bring a slight change up to the game, for most mythic weapons have a slight stun on a charged attack, and I find that I proc way more often on a charged attack, than I do on a regular attack. After a bit more skill spamming, charge your heal again when your HP reaches 20-35% and QUICKLY switch skills again (switch Lifegiver with shield). Activate the shield, and use the two seconds of invulnerability to your advantage, and switch the skills again (switch shield and Lifegiver). Note that the ONLY time you can actually kill the warrior is the time period between them charging their Horn of Renew and the time before their two seconds of invulnerability shield appears. Basically, the strategy here is to tank out the tank while dishing insane damage at the same time. Pray for crits, it helps.

Interesting comments by others:

In TDM, when I am facing a warrior I use a pet with speed like slag. If you have a speed advantage you can negate some attacks by running away and firing fireball & lightning. Unfortunately, it seems like they can stun me more often then I can stun them. And things like axe throw and skyward smash have some ridiculous range. Also even if I'm not close I can be taking damage. This is why you see some warriors just spamming their attacks because they know they can hit you without even being near them. I think you need shield and heal to prolong the fight as long as possible. So you can deplete their mana. If you're doing 1v1 in CTF, then probably using time shift with DOT damage will help. Energezic had a post about this.

A good mage can beat a bad warrior easily. If you meet a fully geared warrior who knows what they are doing (full mythic with glaive or maul), you are more likely than not to die. Our stuns don't work well against warriors and their range for being a melee class is ridiculous. Unlike a rogue, we don't have the power output to kill warriors fast enough before they can shield and heal, at which point just forgetaboutit. If you like a challenge, then go for it. If not, don't even engage top warriors in 1v1. It has always been this way, rogues are easy for us to kill, and a good warrior has always been much more difficult to kill.

It all depends on the warrior you're fighting. Some warriors are (in my opinion) almost impossible to kill with a mage, or at least I haven't fully discovered it yet. I'm probably going to make a warrior soon and test it out against mages and look for a weak spot somewhere. But full powered good warriors are motherF$·%·"!"·$.

I have beat certain mauls in 1v1. For Tanks I prefer using FB + Ice in 1v1 since the Double DOT can disrupt their heals. The ice slows them down giving you wiggle room, 5/5 FB decreases their hit chance by 25% and stuns.

Mage NEEDS stun pet. It's almost a must against a warrior. Slag is good, however, Slag gives no crit, and of course Samael is brilliant. Colton got some passive stuns. I'm doing a few test runs with Ethyl and am having some interesting results.

When 1v1ing against warrior (even one that is average) HEAL is a must. If you can time your stuns and know when to use your shield, count out the 2 secs of invul, time your heals. You can survive pretty long against a warrior (certain ones at least)

In the field it's a different approach entirely. FB + ICE combo works pretty well still but you can use FB light, or FB curse or what have you and still drop a tank.

Curse against tank is not so effective. But if you can drop the tanks HP enough for him to preemptively drop his heal, wait for heal to finish, and then release the curse. Spam damage and stack your crits like crazy. Yet, curse is most effective against mages and rogues. Personally curse eats the crap out of me because of my DoT.

In conclusion;

Mages CAN kill tanks. I'd say about 85% of the tanks out there are "beatable". You just need to learn your combos, know how to pull the warrior, how to use your environment and your pet.

As you can see, tanks are possible to kill in 1v1's! You just need great timing and much luck (crit helps).

EDIT: Most average mauls are beatable! If you score enough crits, have a general idea of what you are doing, and if they don't proc 5 times in a row, it's easier than killing a rogue! On the other hand, against glaives, I didn't have as good results, but honestly, I didn't get enough testing time vsing glaives and will get back to y'all shortly.

I just wanted to encourage the little blue guys out there to think outside the box a little in terms of their build. It is sometimes the most unexpected builds that are the most successful. This is part of the reason why crazy mages such as psychopathic have been so respected in pvp because they think outside the box and kill their opponents with unexpected techniques. Have fun and keep experimenting!

Now I want all you mages out there to have fun and kick some warrior butt! (Not mine, of course)

I also want to shout some thank-you's to a few individuals. They might not know what they've done for me, but I have listened to each one of them at some point in time, and they all gave interesting points! So special thanks to Jon (Curse/Scar), Arrypotta, Lia (because she's so pro), Grimmy, Alhunt, and Woofcookie (he quit and I didn't even get to say my farewells).

Thank you for taking the time to read the thread, and I would appreciate it if you all won't rant about the use of five skills, etc.

[Cero]

Nice guide!
I always feel better that someone or a friend is doing great with the sorc class.
Unfortunately for me, I felt it's pointless to play PvP using sorc. I've played since the very beginning of PvP and gave my all for sorc class
but i felt a GAP that can't satisfy my PvP
needs:P I know everyone has different POV but i
Hope this guide help other aspiring Sorcs.


(Might come back if something has change, I still love Sorc class)

[Instanthumor]

Nice guide!
I always feel better that someone or a friend is doing great with the sorc class.
Unfortunately for me, I felt it's pointless to play PvP using sorc. I've played since the very beginning of PvP and gave my all for sorc class
but i felt a GAP that can't satisfy my PvP
needs:P I know everyone has different POV but i
Hope this guide help other aspiring Sorcs.


(Might come back if something has change, I still love Sorc class)

If this is the case, then I will convince you to play sorc again one day. Antisorc is OP.

[falmear]

Did you try Crawly or Ribbit? The problem with lifegiver is its entirely dependent on your damage stat. So either of these pets would decrease your damage as opposed to colton. But Crawly's root may work like a stun on a warrior. And ribbit gives more crit then colton. The one weakness I feel in this strategy is you are saving switching to shield when your health drops to 20-35%.

After a bit more skill spamming, charge your heal again when your HP reaches 20-35% and QUICKLY switch skills again (switch Lifegiver with shield). Activate the shield, and use the two seconds of invulnerability to your advantage, and switch the skills again (switch shield and Lifegiver).

Which in my mind is dangerously low. One well timed stun or panic and its game over. Because you won't have a chance to use charged life giver or shield. Also the series of events would seem to play out like this:

1) Health 20-35%
2) Charged Heal -> So lets say your health is back to 100%
3) Right now you have left yourself open to attack when you switch, so you'll take some amount of damage
4) Switch to shield and charge
5) Switch back to heal (heal still in cool down)

So in my mind the way to defeat this is to try to stun or panic you before you charge your heal. Also once you charge your heal this is telling your opponent you are going to switch skills now. The best skill against a mage is axe throw. Because the entire strategy is avoid being hit. Once they use axe throw which basically has an infinite range, they bring you with in melee range. So there is no way to avoid any other attacks. What is your success rate and what skills were they using? Also did you try using time shift, possibly in place of fireball?

[Instanthumor]

Did you try Crawly or Ribbit? The problem with lifegiver is its entirely dependent on your damage stat. So either of these pets would decrease your damage as opposed to colton. But Crawly's root may work like a stun on a warrior. And ribbit gives more crit then colton. The one weakness I feel in this strategy is you are saving switching to shield when your health drops to 20-35%.



Which in my mind is dangerously low. One well timed stun or panic and its game over. Because you won't have a chance to use charged life giver or shield. Also the series of events would seem to play out like this:

1) Health 20-35%
2) Charged Heal -> So lets say your health is back to 100%
3) Right now you have left yourself open to attack when you switch, so you'll take some amount of damage
4) Switch to shield and charge
5) Switch back to heal (heal still in cool down)

So in my mind the way to defeat this is to try to stun or panic you before you charge your heal. Also once you charge your heal this is telling your opponent you are going to switch skills now. The best skill against a mage is axe throw. Because the entire strategy is avoid being hit. Once they use axe throw which basically has an infinite range, they bring you with in melee range. So there is no way to avoid any other attacks. What is your success rate and what skills were they using? Also did you try using time shift, possibly in place of fireball?

1.) Never tried Crawly.
2.) I prefer Colton over Ribbit. It's a personal preference. But the one thing I like about Ribbit, is that not only does it give high critical chance on the arcane ability, but it also gives a set crit bonus, if I recall correctly, it was 7 or 8%. The thing about ribbit, is that you do not get as much damage compared to Colton, and Ribbit's arcane ability is too short. It barely gives time for one combo, while with Colton, it is possible to do 2, or even 3 at times.
3.) I admit, 20% can be dangerous and risky, but chances are, it won't happen. So let's say I'm at 100% after heal. It only takes me 1-2 seconds to switch skills, and by the time I activate shield, I will not have any lower than 80%, which is reasonable. With the damage reduction from shield, it is easy to last another 11-13 seconds before the cooldown for heal finishes.
4.) I admit, Axe Throw is the worst skill to go up against a warrior.
5.) Success rate against a decent full mythic warrior with Devour Maul or Architect Blade is over 80%. I've defeated two different mauls before (with my gear), yet lost to many skilled ones. I haven't killed a glaive yet (it is near impossible to dish out enough damage with my current equips).
6.) I didn't try Timeshift. Did you?

[Haligali]

Cool guide.

Did you tried this against a warrior, who also use 5 skills and switch fast?

[chorba69]

Nice guide! I'll definitely try it.
Just yeah, we all know the game still is not balanced. Why? Well, because warriors do not need guides like this. I mean a guide where you have to "scratch your screen" to kill us mages. And I'm sure lots of you think this is correct.
But yeah, it's good to know that mages still have a chance to kill a warrior, doesn't matter how much effort it takes.
Cheers!

[Madnex]

If the warrior has maul, it's game over no matter what. But if he's undergeared and one by one, there's a better build for this. Might make a topic just to steal the spotlight duhuhu.

[Instanthumor]

If the warrior has maul, it's game over no matter what. But if he's undergeared and one by one, there's a better build for this. Might make a topic just to steal the spotlight duhuhu.

First off, mauls are beatable. It is not game over, the one that really bugs me is vsing a glaive... They just have too much armor. And I didn't say this is the best build against warriors, it just works best for me. I think the mage class is all about personal preferences.

[Xbuddyjosh]

Instead of praying the warrior doesn't kill u while u switch to heal, have you tried charging shield and switching while invulnerable? I think that's safer!

[Instanthumor]

Instead of praying the warrior doesn't kill u while u switch to heal, have you tried charging shield and switching while invulnerable? I think that's safer!

There is absolutely no way a warrior can kill a (near) full mythic mage in 1-2 seconds. Maybe deal 20-40%, but 40% at the very most.

[Alhuntrazeck]

Nice guide bud! I tried this vs a warrior with mythic armor helm and doom. Lost but I DID get her down to low Hp.

P.S: never rly expected to win. That war is perhaps one of the most skilled ones ive ever met

[will0]

Anyone mage killed tried Lucifer or Venom 1:1 and few more warrior i know ? I am curious as they are almost unbeatable with mage that is full mythic and arcane wand + SAM (super gem all).

well glaive warrior is even harder.

[Instanthumor]

Anyone mage killed tried Lucifer or Venom 1:1 and few more warrior i know ? I am curious as they are almost unbeatable with mage that is full mythic and arcane wand + SAM (super gem all).

well glaive warrior is even harder.

I tried Venom 1v1, and lost horrible, BUT that was before I even used this build... Sometime soon I will try again.

[Robhawk]

I tried Venom 1v1, and lost horrible, BUT that was before I even used this build... Sometime soon I will try again.

You shouldnt try this...

As long as nothin changes (warrior nerf or mage buff) its no contest for a skilled warrior to kill a skilled mage 1on1.
Its funny when you have a glaive/arcane maul warrior with samael as your personal stalker... Outcome vs a mage with legendary weapon, ring and pet is obvious but he still thinks its something special.. lmao!

Warriors r just op but sts wont do anything...

[Ravager]

Warriors have a huge advantage over mages. Our heals and shielding will greatly outlast the shield of a mage. The only time ive ever had trouble on a 1v1 vs a mage was at 21 cap when there was no stun immunity. Maybe if there is a proper 1v1 section in the game, then there will be some rebalances. Until then I doubt anything will be done for a 5v5 in ctf or a 4v4 tdm type game where we are probably supposed to support each other.

[Instanthumor]

Until then I doubt anything will be done for a 5v5 in ctf or a 4v4 tdm type game where we are probably supposed to support each other.

Amuses me.

[otb]

Warriors have a huge advantage over mages. Our heals and shielding will greatly outlast the shield of a mage. The only time ive ever had trouble on a 1v1 vs a mage was at 21 cap when there was no stun immunity. Maybe if there is a proper 1v1 section in the game, then there will be some rebalances. Until then I doubt anything will be done for a 5v5 in ctf or a 4v4 tdm type game where we are probably supposed to support each other.

In line with this, I suggest that STS just removes the k/d ratio thing in the stats page and leader boards and replace it with GAME WIN:LOSS RATIO

[-no]

Cool write up. Maulers are my only real trouble. Thanks

[Instanthumor]

Cool write up. Maulers are my only real trouble. Thanks

In my opinion, if the mauls don't proc like crazy, they are actually easier than the glaives. That's just me anyway.