Magical
Balrog Killer
Introduction
"So, you've decided you want to cast spells, is that right? Magic isn't a pauper's study, you know... even with all the intelligence in the world, if you aren't wise, you'll find yourself on the streets, desperate for money..."
— Grendel the Really Old (probably)
Legends tell of the trials and tribulations involved in getting a magician off the ground without already having money in your pocket. Referred to by many as "absolute hell", "why would I want to do this" or "f$!@ that", it's not actually as bad as it seems - but in order to give yourself the easiest time, you need to be careful, and take a very calculated approach. So, without further ado...
Character Creation
For the purposes of this guide, we are going to assume a LUKless build. On RevivalStory, magician armor doesn't require LUK, so you get to be fashionable and slightly stronger from the extra Int!
Pick your character's looks and starting weapon (It makes no difference what you choose, you'll replace it almost immediately anyway) and roll your stats. The ideal starting stats for a lukless magician are 4/4/12/5 but anything with 10+ int should be fine.
After level 1, you want to put all your points in INT. When you level up, you gain an extra bonus to your max MP equal to your INT divided by 10, rounded down. Do not get carried away and forget to assign your AP before gaining another level! MP is HP later on!
Maple Island
Speak with the NPCs and do tutorial quests as usual, if you wish. When it comes time to annihilate several species of local flora and fauna, do so, but very importantly, ensure you are picking up everything, without exception. This is absolutely crucial on Maple Island, and it doesn't ever stop being important. (It should go without saying that you need to loot, but I have spoken to enough people who think they can get away without it, or skip picking up ETC drops, that it bears mentioning explicitly here.)
There are a couple important things to do here aside from getting to level 8. First, make sure you deliver Maria's letter to Lucas, and deliver her his reply. You'll be rewarded with a random level 5 hat. The defense is nice, and if you get the Red Headband with +1 accuracy, you might be able to sell it to a warrior. While you're in Amherst, pick up a 19 ATT wooden club from the weapon store for 50 mesos. This should raise your maximum damage to 4, which makes more of a difference than you might think. (If you have more than 4 STR/DEX, the effect may be greater.)
If you're a completionist, make sure you do the quest Biggs' Collection of Items for a Razor or Fruit Knife. It will be worth selling to NPC or another player. However with the reduced EXP curve you may not have "room" before needing to job advance unless you receive the help of a friend or an Islander.
Journey to Ellinia
Try to get as close to level 9 as you can (without actually hitting it) before you leave Maple Island. To be precise, leave room for 365 more exp because Olaf's quests in Lith will add that much. There isn't anywhere you can find a comparable concentration of green snails on Victoria, so it will actually be slightly more difficult to gain exp on the mainland.
When you're ready to go, head to Southperry and sell all of your extra ETC items and any equips you may have found during your stay, unless they're clothes with more defense, then wear them! Pay Shane the fare to get to Lith Harbor, and talk to Olaf.
Now, because the experience required to level at levels 6+ is reduced, you won't have saved up enough mesos to buy a Wooden Wand immediately when you get to Ellinia. I can't make a strong recommendation for what you should do at this point, but personally I worked on Wing's quest for some free potions while I was earning enough for a wand. If you want to go back to Lith soon but don't want to walk, buy a return scroll there, it's cheaper than the full price taxi. It's also equally valid to stay near Ellinia, or to walk to Henesys for HHG1, etc etc.
Introduction to Magic
Now that you know magic, you'll want to be able to do more than bonk things to death. Put your first SP into Energy Bolt. Your full skill build looks like this:
Levels 8-16
At this point you're ready to set off on your journey to level 16. How you handle this depends on one factor: do you have friends? (I'm not here to judge.)
Before you do anything though, if you're extremely close to level 9, now is the time to go blow away some Slimes near Ellinia to get that level. If you can't afford a taxi trip or two nearest town scrolls, you may have to die to get where you're going and you don't want to lose that EXP.
If you're going it alone, consider going to Lith Harbor. There are an abundance of green and blue snails just outside Lith, and you will have to deal with fewer red snails at the outset, although there is a slime or two mixed in.
For everyone else, go to Henesys Hunting Ground. Join a party with your friends or with other people training to speed up those first few levels. Focus on blue snails and slimes; red snails have an oddly high magic defense and will take more hits than slimes on average. You'll find the occasional red potion, but the majority of regeneration at this point will be from idling. Take advantage of the benches just inside Henesys; you get 50% additional HP and MP recovery when you are sitting. It will be tempting to spend money on potions, but don't -- you will need to save up for level 16.
Levels 16-24
At 16, you get Magic Claw 9. This is the first level where it's strong enough to one-shot slimes 100% of the time. You're going to head to one of the two slime trees (Tree That Grew or the southern forest dungeon) but there's one preparation to make first.
You need to get to 42 defense; this will reduce the damage you take from Slimes to 1. With this and the ability to one-shot, it becomes essentially free to train on them, because they drop red potions periodically. I used the following, but you can get the DEF however you want.
Equipment
Now that Magician armor doesn't have a LUK requirement, you have alternate choices here.
At 17, put a 10th point in Claw and then begin finishing Improving MP Recovery. A conventional build would wait on MP Recovery and instead save points to max Claw right away, but here, we have the first opportunity to raise money at almost no expense.
After MP Recovery is maxed, at your option, you can take some of the money you've raised, buy some orange and blue potions, and go to Pig Beach. Level 10 claw is enough to get the job done here - as your INT rises you will one-shot ribbon pigs more and more often. Energy Bolt can be a followup attack if a second Claw isn't necessary, if you want to be extremely focused on conserving mana. Maxed mana recovery combined with level 10 claw should allow you to spend only a small handful of blue potions for entire levels at Pig Beach.
24-30
Once you have maxed out Claw, you're ready to start Kerning PQ. If you do not want to, or are unable to find a group, the best place to grind is going to be Green or Horny Mushrooms. Top floor of HHG1 is OK (if you have that pan lid dream) but the best place would be one of the tree dungeons near Ellinia or the top level of Ant Tunnel 1. At this point you should be able to afford HP potions without a problem, and MP potions can be used to supplement your natural recovery.
30+
Congratulations, you've survived! Wizards and Clerics will still use Claw until their mid-to-late 30s when their second job skills begin to shine. As your power grows and you start being able to take on level 30+ mobs, the value of ETC drops and the amount of mesos will increase, and the value of unwanted equipment drops will as well. After this point, you will be worrying less and less about being able to afford training.
FIN
"So, you've decided you want to cast spells, is that right? Magic isn't a pauper's study, you know... even with all the intelligence in the world, if you aren't wise, you'll find yourself on the streets, desperate for money..."
— Grendel the Really Old (probably)
Legends tell of the trials and tribulations involved in getting a magician off the ground without already having money in your pocket. Referred to by many as "absolute hell", "why would I want to do this" or "f$!@ that", it's not actually as bad as it seems - but in order to give yourself the easiest time, you need to be careful, and take a very calculated approach. So, without further ado...
Character Creation
For the purposes of this guide, we are going to assume a LUKless build. On RevivalStory, magician armor doesn't require LUK, so you get to be fashionable and slightly stronger from the extra Int!
Pick your character's looks and starting weapon (It makes no difference what you choose, you'll replace it almost immediately anyway) and roll your stats. The ideal starting stats for a lukless magician are 4/4/12/5 but anything with 10+ int should be fine.
After level 1, you want to put all your points in INT. When you level up, you gain an extra bonus to your max MP equal to your INT divided by 10, rounded down. Do not get carried away and forget to assign your AP before gaining another level! MP is HP later on!
Maple Island
Speak with the NPCs and do tutorial quests as usual, if you wish. When it comes time to annihilate several species of local flora and fauna, do so, but very importantly, ensure you are picking up everything, without exception. This is absolutely crucial on Maple Island, and it doesn't ever stop being important. (It should go without saying that you need to loot, but I have spoken to enough people who think they can get away without it, or skip picking up ETC drops, that it bears mentioning explicitly here.)
There are a couple important things to do here aside from getting to level 8. First, make sure you deliver Maria's letter to Lucas, and deliver her his reply. You'll be rewarded with a random level 5 hat. The defense is nice, and if you get the Red Headband with +1 accuracy, you might be able to sell it to a warrior. While you're in Amherst, pick up a 19 ATT wooden club from the weapon store for 50 mesos. This should raise your maximum damage to 4, which makes more of a difference than you might think. (If you have more than 4 STR/DEX, the effect may be greater.)
A wise man once said:
If you're a completionist, make sure you do the quest Biggs' Collection of Items for a Razor or Fruit Knife. It will be worth selling to NPC or another player. However with the reduced EXP curve you may not have "room" before needing to job advance unless you receive the help of a friend or an Islander.
Journey to Ellinia
Try to get as close to level 9 as you can (without actually hitting it) before you leave Maple Island. To be precise, leave room for 365 more exp because Olaf's quests in Lith will add that much. There isn't anywhere you can find a comparable concentration of green snails on Victoria, so it will actually be slightly more difficult to gain exp on the mainland.
When you're ready to go, head to Southperry and sell all of your extra ETC items and any equips you may have found during your stay, unless they're clothes with more defense, then wear them! Pay Shane the fare to get to Lith Harbor, and talk to Olaf.
Now, because the experience required to level at levels 6+ is reduced, you won't have saved up enough mesos to buy a Wooden Wand immediately when you get to Ellinia. I can't make a strong recommendation for what you should do at this point, but personally I worked on Wing's quest for some free potions while I was earning enough for a wand. If you want to go back to Lith soon but don't want to walk, buy a return scroll there, it's cheaper than the full price taxi. It's also equally valid to stay near Ellinia, or to walk to Henesys for HHG1, etc etc.
Introduction to Magic
Now that you know magic, you'll want to be able to do more than bonk things to death. Put your first SP into Energy Bolt. Your full skill build looks like this:
Code:
Level 8: Energy Bolt 1
Level 9: Improving MP Recovery 3
Level 10: Improving MP Recovery 5, Improving Max MP Increase 1
Level 11: Improving Max MP Increase 4
Level 12: Improving Max MP Increase 7
Level 13: Improving Max MP Increase 10 (MAX)
Level 14: Magic Claw 3
Level 15: Magic Claw 6
Level 16: Magic Claw 9
Level 17: Magic Claw 10, Improving MP Recovery 7
Level 18: Improving MP Recovery 10
Level 19: Improving MP Recovery 13
Level 20: Improving MP Recovery 16 (MAX)
Level 21: Save points
Level 22: Save points
Level 23: Save points
Level 24: Magic Claw 20 (MAX), Magic Guard 2
Level 25: Magic Guard 5
Level 26: Magic Guard 8
Level 27: Magic Guard 11
Level 28: Magic Guard 14
Level 29: Magic Guard 17
Level 30: Magic Guard 20 (MAX)A confused student said:
Levels 8-16
At this point you're ready to set off on your journey to level 16. How you handle this depends on one factor: do you have friends? (I'm not here to judge.)
Before you do anything though, if you're extremely close to level 9, now is the time to go blow away some Slimes near Ellinia to get that level. If you can't afford a taxi trip or two nearest town scrolls, you may have to die to get where you're going and you don't want to lose that EXP.
If you're going it alone, consider going to Lith Harbor. There are an abundance of green and blue snails just outside Lith, and you will have to deal with fewer red snails at the outset, although there is a slime or two mixed in.
For everyone else, go to Henesys Hunting Ground. Join a party with your friends or with other people training to speed up those first few levels. Focus on blue snails and slimes; red snails have an oddly high magic defense and will take more hits than slimes on average. You'll find the occasional red potion, but the majority of regeneration at this point will be from idling. Take advantage of the benches just inside Henesys; you get 50% additional HP and MP recovery when you are sitting. It will be tempting to spend money on potions, but don't -- you will need to save up for level 16.
Levels 16-24
At 16, you get Magic Claw 9. This is the first level where it's strong enough to one-shot slimes 100% of the time. You're going to head to one of the two slime trees (Tree That Grew or the southern forest dungeon) but there's one preparation to make first.
You need to get to 42 defense; this will reduce the damage you take from Slimes to 1. With this and the ability to one-shot, it becomes essentially free to train on them, because they drop red potions periodically. I used the following, but you can get the DEF however you want.
Equipment
Now that Magician armor doesn't have a LUK requirement, you have alternate choices here.
Hat:
Lv. 1 Light/Dark Mark of the Beta (15 def, +1 allstat) if possible; or
Lv. 8 Swimming Cap (7 def, 800 meso)
Lv. 10 White Bandana (8 def, 2k meso) from Lith Harbor
Lv. 15 Metal Gear (10 def, 3k) from Kerning City
(None of the magician hats you can buy from NPC have more than 8 wdef, so wear what you want, and hold out for a Brown Bamboo or a higher level hat like a Jester if you don't have a mark of beta.)
Top:
Lv. 11 shirt from Lith (11 def, 3k)
Lv. 18 Split Piece from Ellinia (15 def, 8.5k)
Bottom:
Lv. 16 pants from Lith (13 def, 4.8k meso)
Lv. 18 Split Pants/Skirt from Ellinia (12 def, 8k meso)
Overall:
Lv.13 Plain Robe (Male only) from Ellinia (16 def, 7k meso)
Lv. 23 Doros/Doroness robe from Ellinia (24 def, +3 INT, 16k meso)
(I would switch from the common shirt and pants to the Doros robe for the INT bonus when you hit 23.)
Shoes:
Lv. 11 Gomushin from Kerning (4 def, 2 speed, 2k meso)
Lv. 15 Nitty from Ellinia / drop from Slimes (5 def, 5k meso)
Lv. 26 Whitebottom shoes from Henesys (13 def, +3 speed, 15k meso)
(Your starting shoes are 2 def, don't worry about shoes too much until you can afford whitebottoms or to make/find shoes that give INT. Example: Yellow Windshoes drop from Horny Mushroom)
Gloves:
Lv. 10 Work Glove from Kerning (2 def, 15 leathers + 1k mesos)
Lv. 15 Lemona (4 def), from Slimes or made with 15 leathers + 7k meso
(Don't worry about these too much, the easiest +INT glove is probably Dark Noel from Lorangs way later on.)
Shield:
Lv. 5 Stolen Fence (5 def) 2k at Lith Harbor or dropped by Dark Stump
Lv. 10 Pan Lid (8~12 def) dropped by Green Mushroom (swag lottery winner mode)
Lv. 1 Light/Dark Mark of the Beta (15 def, +1 allstat) if possible; or
Lv. 8 Swimming Cap (7 def, 800 meso)
Lv. 10 White Bandana (8 def, 2k meso) from Lith Harbor
Lv. 15 Metal Gear (10 def, 3k) from Kerning City
(None of the magician hats you can buy from NPC have more than 8 wdef, so wear what you want, and hold out for a Brown Bamboo or a higher level hat like a Jester if you don't have a mark of beta.)
Top:
Lv. 11 shirt from Lith (11 def, 3k)
Lv. 18 Split Piece from Ellinia (15 def, 8.5k)
Bottom:
Lv. 16 pants from Lith (13 def, 4.8k meso)
Lv. 18 Split Pants/Skirt from Ellinia (12 def, 8k meso)
Overall:
Lv.13 Plain Robe (Male only) from Ellinia (16 def, 7k meso)
Lv. 23 Doros/Doroness robe from Ellinia (24 def, +3 INT, 16k meso)
(I would switch from the common shirt and pants to the Doros robe for the INT bonus when you hit 23.)
Shoes:
Lv. 11 Gomushin from Kerning (4 def, 2 speed, 2k meso)
Lv. 15 Nitty from Ellinia / drop from Slimes (5 def, 5k meso)
Lv. 26 Whitebottom shoes from Henesys (13 def, +3 speed, 15k meso)
(Your starting shoes are 2 def, don't worry about shoes too much until you can afford whitebottoms or to make/find shoes that give INT. Example: Yellow Windshoes drop from Horny Mushroom)
Gloves:
Lv. 10 Work Glove from Kerning (2 def, 15 leathers + 1k mesos)
Lv. 15 Lemona (4 def), from Slimes or made with 15 leathers + 7k meso
(Don't worry about these too much, the easiest +INT glove is probably Dark Noel from Lorangs way later on.)
Shield:
Lv. 5 Stolen Fence (5 def) 2k at Lith Harbor or dropped by Dark Stump
Lv. 10 Pan Lid (8~12 def) dropped by Green Mushroom (swag lottery winner mode)
At 17, put a 10th point in Claw and then begin finishing Improving MP Recovery. A conventional build would wait on MP Recovery and instead save points to max Claw right away, but here, we have the first opportunity to raise money at almost no expense.
A wise man once said:
After MP Recovery is maxed, at your option, you can take some of the money you've raised, buy some orange and blue potions, and go to Pig Beach. Level 10 claw is enough to get the job done here - as your INT rises you will one-shot ribbon pigs more and more often. Energy Bolt can be a followup attack if a second Claw isn't necessary, if you want to be extremely focused on conserving mana. Maxed mana recovery combined with level 10 claw should allow you to spend only a small handful of blue potions for entire levels at Pig Beach.
24-30
Once you have maxed out Claw, you're ready to start Kerning PQ. If you do not want to, or are unable to find a group, the best place to grind is going to be Green or Horny Mushrooms. Top floor of HHG1 is OK (if you have that pan lid dream) but the best place would be one of the tree dungeons near Ellinia or the top level of Ant Tunnel 1. At this point you should be able to afford HP potions without a problem, and MP potions can be used to supplement your natural recovery.
30+
Congratulations, you've survived! Wizards and Clerics will still use Claw until their mid-to-late 30s when their second job skills begin to shine. As your power grows and you start being able to take on level 30+ mobs, the value of ETC drops and the amount of mesos will increase, and the value of unwanted equipment drops will as well. After this point, you will be worrying less and less about being able to afford training.
FIN
