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==============================================================================
I: Table Of Contents
==============================================================================
I. Table Of Contents
II. Introduction
III. Common Problems
IV. About Mages
V. Getting Started
VI. Choosing Skills
VII. Levelling Up As A Mage
VIII. Buying Equipment
IX. Skills
X. Version History
XI. To-Do List
XII. Legal Mumbo Jumbo
XIII. Contact Info
XIV. Credits
==============================================================================
II: Introduction
==============================================================================
What is Ragnarok Online, you ask? Ragnarok Online (or RO for short) is an
MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). This means that,
unfortunately, you can't play it when your internet connection isn't
working. It also means that the game lags to hell and back when a lot of
players are in one area. "Lag" means that for whatever reason (typically too
much bandwidith or memory being used) the program in question slows down. RO
has obscene amounts of lag, so get used to it; I reccomend not running any
other programs when RO is running, to lower the amount of lag.
==============================================================================
III: Common Problems
==============================================================================
Some people have told me that once they start up RO they can't make their
cursor leave the RO window. This problem can be easily dealt with. Press the
Ctrl , Alt , and Delete keys (commonly referred to as Ctrl + Alt + Del or CAD)
at the same time and a close program window will pop up. Click 'cancel' and
your cursor will be free of the RO window (but it won't show up when moved
over RO) until you bring re-select the RO window.
In addition, a problem that I myself suffer from is the program crashing or
freezing whenever you try and change screens. Just do the CAD trick once the
screen turns all black and have it close RO. Then start RO up again and you'll
be on the next screen. Tedious, I know. The best way around this is to stay
in low-lag areas, and close all other programs when running RO.
To quit RO normally just hit the Escape (Esc) key on your keyboard. You'll get
some various options, including Exit To Windows.
==============================================================================
IV: About Mages
==============================================================================
Why did I write a guide solely on Mages? Well, mages are arguably the most
versatile class in the whole game. This is because they have so many different
options for their skills (spells), and each choice is profoundly different
from the rest. At first a Mage doesn't have too many options, but once certain
spells advance to high enough levels, more choices will become available. For
example, if a Mage gets Napalm Beat to level 4 they will be able to learn Soul
Strike.
A mage should probably specialize. You only have 50 ]]>Job<![CDATA[
Levels to ]]>work<![CDATA[
with,
and that's not as many as you might think. Mages have more skills than any
other class in the game, and so they need skill points (gained by raising your
Job Level) a whole lot more than any other class. Add in the fact that you
have to raise the weaker skills at least some before you get the stronger ones
and you begin to realize how important it is to get a few strong skills than a
lot of weak ones.
==============================================================================
V: Getting Started
==============================================================================
Well, the first thing you're going to do when making your first Mage is to
decide their starting stats, which they will have upon creation. First of all,
mages need Intelligence (INT) more than any other stat. It effects how much
damage they do with their spells, and it effects it a LOT. Levelling up
doesn't boost damage on its own, so you really need a hight INT. This means
that upon creation your Mage should have an INT of 9 and an STR of 1. Early
on, boost ONLY INT. Not STR, not VIT, not AGI, not DEX, and not Luck. ONLY
INT! True, this will make the time before you get spells (quite a while)
horrendously boring and difficult since you'll have to fight only with
weapons, but it'll be worth it.
After your character's created you'll find yourself in a place with no exits
except a building, which is half of the time closed off. I don't reccomend
trying to go in there; its laggy as hell. Instead, find one of the shimmery
white portals in the grassy area outside the building and go into it. You'll
appear in a city. The city depends on which portal you picked, and I don't
know what all of them are. Either way, leave the city and start killing stuff.
So, how do we go about getting to ]]>Job<![CDATA[
Level 10 as a Novice (to get Basic
Skills to level 9 so that you can class change into a Mage) as quickly as
possible? Well, for starters, you need to get lots of Job EXP (Experience
Points). Yes, there are to different kinds of experience: Job Experience (JXP)
and Level Experience (LXP). Now you're probably wondering "what enemies should
I kill?". The answer is simple: Porings. Porings (the pink slime thing) are
the weakest enemies in the game, and give 2 Job Experience per kill. Not much,
I know, but the considerably stronger Fabres only give 1 JXP per kill, and
Porings are plentiful everywhere. that a Novice is likely to be. Plus, even
with 1 STR you should be able to kill Porings without too much difficulty.
After hours of this amazingly boring activity you will finally be able to reach
Job Level 10 and will then be ready to Class Change into a Mage. To do this you
must find Geffen. From Prontera (the biggest city; also the capital, and not
hard to find; if you don't know where it is ask for directions) take the west
exit. On that screen take the northwest exit. You should be in a place with a
lot of Rockers (green grasshopper type things), and the land should be pretty
much narrow and rectangular. Take the farther west of the two exits. Wind your
way around first north (through some trees; the path is very hard to see) to get
to the western exit. On this screen go north, cross the landbridge, and voila!
You've reached Geffen. The Mage's guild is a building in the far northwestern
corner of the city. Talk to the person at the back of the room and you'll get
the option to become a Mage.
==============================================================================
VI: Choosing Skills
==============================================================================
The first thing you should do upon becoming a Mage is choose what skills you
want to get. See the section on skills for in-depth info. This section is
mainly just to help you figure out what to do.
Let's establish one thing right off the bat: you NEED Soul Strike. Eevn though
at LV 10 it only hits 5 times, Soul Strike is still practically necessary for
mages. At LV 10 it only takes about half a second to cast, AND its a light-
elemental attack, meaning most of the high-level mosnters take double damage
from it. Most other LV 10 attack skills hit ten times, have obscene casting
time, and do normal or reduced damage to undead (which a lot of strong
monsters are, but undead are weak against light). Soul Strike is not, however,
a good idea to go for from the very beginning seeing as you need Napalm Beat
(a spell that levelling up only increases damage on) at LV 4 first, most low-
level enemies are not weak against it, it takes a long time to multi-hit, and
it is an SP vacuum. Hold off on it until later.
So what DO you want from the very beginning? A Bolt spell, that's what. Fire,
Cold, or Lightning Bolt are your option. Each one dictates a different area
where you will need to level up using it. You should first raise the Bolt to
LV 4, at which point you will be able to get the advanced spell for that
level. Fireball for Fire, Frost Driver for Cold, and Thunderstorm for
Lightning. Fireball doesn't hit multiple times, but instead hits groups of
enemies and damage done is increased by its level. Frost Driver freezes
(paralyzes) enemies for a length of time that depends on the level, but
doesn't hit multiple times. Thunderstorm hits multiple times AND hits groups
of enemies. It seems like Fireball is useless because of this, but Fire is the
only element that has a third spell: Fire Wall. If Fireball is high enough
level the Mage can learn Fire Wall as well.
Personally, I reccomended the Lightning Series. Do not, however, immediately
try and get the second level spell once you've gotten the first one. You will
notice that when you get to heavily populated areas (monster populated, that
is) that all your spells suck up SP very fast, and it returns very slow. How
does one remedy this? Why, the SP Recovery skill, of course! At low levels it
doesn't help TOO much, but a high levels you'd have to be brain dead to not
notice the difference. So once you have your LV 4 Bolt just get SP Recovery to
LV 10; you'll get an extra 30 SP back each 10 seconds. Its worth it.
After getting SP Recovery you have two choices: to continue with your element
spells or to go for Soul Strike. I reccomend Soul Strike so that you can beat
undead enemies, which give lots of EXP. To get Soul Strike you first must get
Napalm Beat to LV 10. Either way, get your spell of choice (Soul Strike or
best spell of the element you chose) to LV 10, and then work on the other.
After this you'll have probably less than 10 Job Levels left. Use them however
you want.
==============================================================================
VII: Levelling Up As A Mage
==============================================================================
Okay, so you've chosen what spells you're going to get. Next you need to level
up to get the spells. For your first few Job Levels as a Mage, keep on killing
Porings; you can get to Job Level 5 (to get the LV 4 Bolt) by just doing this
outside of Geffen in probably under an hour. So where do you level up? This
depends on what Bolt you got. But before you do anythign else, buy a Rod or
Wand (the two weakest Mage weapons); the Rod gives you +15% Magic ATK (MATK),
and the Wand gives the +15% MATK and +1 INT (which is worth the extra fee).
If you chose Lightning Bolt them make sure that you have at least 150z left
over.
If you chose Lightning Bolt then you want to level up in Bibalan caves. To get
to Bibalan you must first get to Izlude. Izlude is one screen south and one
east of Prontera. There go to the docks (in the northeastern corner of town)
and pay the fee to go to Bibalan. Be sure to save here; you don't want to have
to pay the boat fee every time you die. It'll take a while to find the cave
entrance, buts its not TOO hard. Here there are three types of enemies: Roda
Frogs, Spores, and Vadons. Roda Frogs have about 160 HP, and can probably be
killed by a single LV 4 Lightning Bolt right when you arrive. Spores have
about 200 HP. You MIGHT need to use hit-and-run tactics to beat them when you
first arrive, but after your first few levels a single LV 4 Lightning Bolt can
easily beat one. Vadons are harder. They have 700-800 HP (not sure of exact
amount) and hit HARD. You will definately need to use hit-and-run tactics on
them until above LV 20. Here in Bibalan you will need to level up to level
20-25. Don't worry, the levels go by really quickly. Then you will probably be
ready to risk level 2 of Bibalan; the entrance is a stairway leading down
somewhere in the caves... sorry that I can't give more detailed instructions.
I'm not sure what level you should be before you risk the third level of
Bibalan, but you should probably have Thunderstorm or Soul Strike at LV 10
before trying.
If you chose Cold Bolt then you want to go the the desert. To get there head
two screens south of Prontera and you'll have reached the desert. You should
head west a bit, though, and find Morroc; after the first few screens west
its a southern exit; it isn't too hard to find because it has a wall around
it. Save there. Now go kill enemies. Pickys are pretty weak, and I don't think
that Condors are TOO strong. Sorry for the lack of detailed information, but
I've quite honestly never played a Cold-using mage. After you get Frost Driver
or Soul Strike to level 10 you should start trying enemies like Golems,
Snakes, scorpions (I think there's a scorpion enemy, but I'm not sure about
the name), or maybe even in the Pyramids; the Pyramid is in the faaaar west
desert.
If you chose Fire Bolt then you're probably pretty well off where you are.
Willows should easily fall to an LV 4 Fire Bolt if you have decent INT, and
both Rockers and Hornets are weak against Fire. Later, you might want to find
the areas with Yoyos and Smokies (sorry, I'll try and find out the exact
location for the next update), since I think they're weak against Fire (once
more, I'll try to confirm this by the next update). Also, the Pyramids might
not be a bad idea once you get Fire Wall OR Soul Strike to LV 10, since
undead (which the pyramid is FULL of) are also weak against fire, but not as
much as they are to light.
Mages should probably avoid areas like Culvert (the sewers) or any other areas
with lots of agressive enemies until they have Soul Strike; since the enemies
attack without you provoking them, you NEED to be able to cast quickly, and
Soul Strike is the only spell that fits that description. Not to mention that
a lot of the agressive enemies happen to be undead.
==============================================================================
VIII: Buying Equipment
==============================================================================
Equipment is probably less of a problem for Mages than any other class.
Mages should, however, pay attention to this later on. There are several
notable items that a Mage should try and get; a single point of INT is a big
boost in damage, after all. The equipments are:
Arc Wand: a weapon, +3 INT, 60 ATK, +15% MATK
Earring: an accessory, so you can wear two of these. +2 INT
Tiara: a helmet; its supposed to be female-only, but I've heard its glitched
so that male characters can use it too. Its either +5 or +2 INT (unsure of
which)
This means a total of +9 or +12 INT, depending on how much of a bonus the
Tiara gives. If you discover any other INT-boosting items, please tell me. As
for armor, just go for whatever gives the best bonus to your defense; magic
defense isn't important, since no enemies use magic, although that might
change later on in the developement of RO. The best weapon for a mage is
arguable. The two possiblities are the Arc Wand (buyable in Geffen for 13,000
zeny) and the Mighty Staff (dropped rarely be elder willows). The mighty staff
has an attack power of 130, gives +15 Strength (yes, Strength), but gives gives
NO boost to INT or MATK. For this reason I prefer the Arc Wand, with 60 attack
power, +3 INT, and +15% MATK. This is because Mages are not meant for fighting
physically and the Arc Wand gives one superior magical attack power.
==============================================================================
IX: Skills
==============================================================================
Skill: Cold Bolt
Effect: 1 hit per level to a single enemy.
Element: Cold
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: Frost Driver (LV 4)
Comments: Not much to say. Its a bolt spell.
Skill: Fire Ball
Effect: Hits a group of enemies.
Element: Fire
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: LV 4 Fire Bolt
Needed For: Fire Wall (LV 5)
Comments: Not hitting multiple times aint so great.
Skill: Fire Bolt
Effect: 1 hit per level to a single enemy.
Element: Fire
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: Fireball (LV 4)
Comments: Its a bolt spell.
Skill: Fire Wall
Effect: Makes a wall of fire that harms all enemies who pass through it.
Element: Fire
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: LV 5 Fireball, LV 5 Sight
Needed For: None
Comments: Doesn't sound so useful to me, but I've never tried it.
Skill: Frost Driver
Effect: Damages enemy and freezes them.
Element: Cold
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: LV 4 Cold Bolt
Needed For: None
Comments: Doesn't hit multi-hit. Time frozen depends on skill level.
Skill: Lightning Bolt
Effect: 1 hit per level to a single enemy.
Element: Lightning
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: Thunder Storm (LV 4)
Comments: Um... its a bolt spell?
Skill: Napalm Beat
Effect: Hits a group of enemies. Damage increases with skill level.
Element: ??? (none? I need to confirm this)
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: Soul Strike (LV 4), Safety Wall (LV 7)
Comments: Does 200% of MATK damage at LV 10.
Skill: Safety Wall
Effect: Creates a spot that makes you invincible.
Element: None
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: LV 7 Napalm Beat, LV 5 Soul Strike
Needed For: None
Comments: You need a Blue Gem for each casting; the Gem is used up in casting.
Skill: Sight
Effect: Reveals hidden enemies/players.
Element: None
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: Fire Wall (LV 5)
Comments: Sort of useless; I don't think there are any enemies that can hide.
Skill: Soul Strike
Effect: Hits a single enemy, # of hits increases every odd-numbered level.
Element: Light (a.k.a. Holy)
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: LV 4 Napalm Beat
Needed For: Safety Wall: (LV 5)
Comments: The higher the level, the quicker it is; the more hits, the slower.
Even-levelled castings take about 1/2 a second, odd-levelled about 1 second.
Skill: SP Recovery
Effect: +3 SP per ten seconds each level
Element: None
Passive?: Yes
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: None
Comments: This is a must for any Mage, but only after you have your first Bolt
up to level 4. Get it to level 10 after that. You'll find your levels coming
obscenely slowly later on without this.
Skill: Stone Curse
Effect: Turns enemy to stone and lowers their HP to 1. Cast again to uncurse.
Element: None
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: None
Needed For: None
Comments: Doesn't work on undead or 'boss' enemies. Uses up a Red Gem to cast.
Skill: Thunder Storm
Effect: Hits a group of enemies 1 time per level.
Element: Lightning
Passive?: No
Pre-Requisite: Lightning Bolt (LV 4)
Needed For: None
Comments: Great spell; multi-hits a group. Some say AGI lowers casting time.
]]>
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