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#16711 12/03/03 08:23 PM
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I want to play the game as a wizard, but I was wondering if any of you could help me. I am not sure what skills I should get, how to divide up the stats (Strength, agility, etc.), what weapons and armor I should use. If you could help me, I would appricate it

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This is how I did it, so strictly subjective, ok <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />?
Divided stat points with 2 for intelligence to increase mana, then the rest equally on the other ones. I needed strength 60-70 for my favourite armour afterwards.
No weapon or armour restricting, depends on your stats what you can wear. On weapons I chose melee, one-handed to have shield hand free and always looked for items with stats that boost up stats, mana, vitality and include spells/skills. specially skill I don't need all the time: Pickpocket, lockpick, alchemy etc. and I even bought items that supplied me with these skills.

Mage skills, bought every book I could lay hands on, just to try out spells. It you buy them, you don't need the appropriate lvl, can use them right away and lvl-up your spell: and now my favourites -
Meteorstrike for the Rivertown area
Lightning for the Dark Forest/sewers
Deadly Disc lvl 5, multiple attack
Hellspikes lvl 5
Elemental strike lvl 5
energy cage
Telekinesis
Aura of guarding
Spellshield


Survivor:
Lockpick lvl 3 and then the rest as a reward for quests
Know creature lvl 5 to find out resistances
Curse seems to be good, cumulative skill
alchemy lvl 3, so I can mix and make normal potions (mainly white ones)
pickpocket lvl 2, required for one quest (lvl 1 sufficient)
magic barrier lvl 5 to boost up resistances to 25/res.
identify lvl 5
Wisdom lvl 5, this as soon as possible, to not skip any XP pts

Warrior:
enchant weapon lvl 5, used only gold charms, they're the best; sold the other ones, gives good cash <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Kiya

I didn't use Aura of Command (seems buggy at higher lvl)
I didn't use deadly gift, not my style of gameplay, makes it too easy
I didn't use summoner spells, but many gamers like them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Had plenty of money, so I neglected the repair skill

Mage thoughts of other gamers, click here

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[color:"yellow"] Well, I WAS going to put in my two cents, but Kiya pretty much covered everything.
I also prefer a one handed sword and shield. [/color]

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Thanks kiya for that. It really helped. I appreciate it.

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hehe, yes, Kiya pretty much gave it to ya although I would add limbs of lead and curse to the list at maybe 3rd each. Five if ya can.

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The skeletal wall spell is a must have.

Even at level 1 it buys you time in so many situations where youd get cornered and killed.

Id get it as early as possible.

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Burning Wall level 5.

I don't know how I ever lived without it... Uses so little mana, kills so many buggers. XD (Since my character is resistant to everything, I just let dragonriders breath their ice/fire/lightning/poison attacks on me while they get roasted in the wall. *g*)

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Burning Wall level 5.

I don't know how I ever lived without it... Uses so little mana, kills so many buggers. XD (Since my character is resistant to everything, I just let dragonriders breath their ice/fire/lightning/poison attacks on me while they get roasted in the wall. *g*)


How did you become resistant to everything by charms or did you put points into "Magic Barrier" or "Spellshield" ?

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Is it better using summoning spells or what spells are better getting ?

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I'll add Freeze lvl 5 to the list. VERY good for combining with Meteor Strike to wipe out a lot of otherwise dangerous foes.

Doesn't work on everything though, be warned!


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I didn't find the summoning spells all that useful, but freeze is great, though it doesn't work against the undead, even level 2 freeze will stop an elite orc for a while. I put skill points into magic barrier early on before I had good charms. Energy cage is fun and hell spikes level 5 is amazing. Also I might suggest skill points in reflect missiles and repel damage. Those helped me out a bit.


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I'm a mage, I find bows best, the skills I like are:

Metorstrike at least lvl 2
Freeze at least lvl 3
Restoriation lvl 2
hell spikes lvl 5
elemantal bolt lvl 3
skeleton wall lvl 1

I also like a bow, I found one that did 150 dam at the beginning (very useful)
These are it's stats:

4 charms
+2 consitution
+4 intelligence
+3 strength
+80 magic
+40 vitally
141-163 damage
duribillity 20/20

Perfect or what? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />


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if u get ressurect level 5, aura of command 3/4and master summoner 5 u dont need to summon creatures just ressurect dead enemies, use aura of command on them and they will be as powerfull as they r when they alive. tip:ressurect John the dragonrider that kills u at the begginning he will be a lot of help in the dark forest oh and u didnt hear that from me






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if you don't mind, i don't recommend spellshield, and aura of guarding. they protect you till 140, but to be honest, i'd invest in other skills then this, as it's pretty bad protection for the five skill points.


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well, the shield spells will at least indicate what type of damage you are being hit with, so they can give you an idea of what you need to improve (resists or AC/def). I often found books at the magic shops to boost these, so you shouldn't need to spend skill points on them.


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Burning Wall level 5.

I don't know how I ever lived without it... Uses so little mana, kills so many buggers. XD (Since my character is resistant to everything, I just let dragonriders breath their ice/fire/lightning/poison attacks on me while they get roasted in the wall. *g*)


How did you become resistant to everything by charms or did you put points into "Magic Barrier" or "Spellshield" ?


That and golden charms. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> (Plus good equipment. Reloading pays off. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />)

Oh -- even if Aura of Command doesn't work in the endgame, I still found Resurrect level 5 very useful. Want cannon fodders against sand devils? Resurrect the hell outta its old comrades. Makes me feel like a necromancer.

Summoning spells are utterly useless. Skeletal wall is the only "summoning" spell (and it isn't even in the power of summoning line) that I found to be of any use. (And then, only as cannon fodders while I fire hellspikes.)

I never needed to use restoration spell. *shrugs* Restoration potions got me through just fine, and I prefer to use my mana on other things. Still, you get, what, two skillpoints for completing two quests.

I've never tried energy cage. I thought it was redundant, if you already have freeze. *shrugs* What's the difference, anyway?

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if you don't mind, i don't recommend spellshield, and aura of guarding. they protect you till 140, but to be honest, i'd invest in other skills then this, as it's pretty bad protection for the five skill points.


The point with both Shield and Spell Shield is that they are very cheap to cast Mana-wise, and you can recast them as soon as they get low on hit points.

Spell Shield will also protect you from poison damage, AND stop those annoying little twitches poison causes your character to make.

As nothing in the game can take either shield out with only one hit, there is always time to renew your shields unless you are completely surrounded by very nasty creatures - and even then, the added hit points can make the difference between life and death.



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meteorstrike, lightning bolt, and if a monster is immune to both--deadly discs! Elemental strike for mass carnage. Divine death makes short work of imps and stone gargys. Also obsoletes freeze.

I agree, summoning spells are worthless.
But then, I'd rather blow stuff up <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mage.gif" alt="" />


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The point with both Shield and Spell Shield is that they are very cheap to cast Mana-wise, and you can recast them as soon as they get low on hit points.

Spell Shield will also protect you from poison damage, AND stop those annoying little twitches poison causes your character to make.


They are cheap to cast, but they take a while to recast, so you really have to stumble away from what you're fighting to recast it, then, as you've spent so much time with your arms straight out casting, you'll have to retreat again in order to get into good spell casting range. For melee fighters, this is nearly useless; you spend so much time recasting it, it'll nearly be beaten down again by the time you're done casting.

You are quite right about its 1-hit life saver, though -- a careless mistep near a Giant Heavy Orc will kill you, but if you have a single point in Shield, you can limp away.

Restoration I do like because it's spammable -- simply right click a few times and you should be healed right up. However, if you're playing a mage, you'll undoubtedly be lower on mana than you are health, and should probably just chug a minor restoration.


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Last round i had both protection spells maxed out as a warrior. In the end i regretted it.
Why? Because in general you have enough life to get through anything, you'd rather invest other (agressive) skills.
Good things about the shields IMO:
-they stop you from poison effects (which takes very little health away if you have good resistance.
-They form a (very small) barrier or buffer when the sh*t hits the fence.
Because really when you meet a great adversary, your shield is gone in less then a sec.

End conclusion IMO: It's not bad, i am not saying that, but if you really really want the shield, i advise you to go for the spellshield in the first place, which is for magical attacks.

Having both shields last round, i noticed that mostly my spellshield was active, rather then my fysical shield.


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I remember before getting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> reading reviews that pointed out that one of its great advantages was how many combinations of skills are adequate to complete the game. Having completed once, and experimented with many characters, I find myself in agreement.

So the first thing I would emphasize--the game is not a quiz on choosing the right skills! Many combinations will work just fine, and since you get skills one at a time, you can always experiment as you go and see what works best for you.

My minimalist suggestion for mages: meteorstrike, hellspikes, something to slow them down (I prefer limbs of lead--doesn't slow them down as much as some spells, but always works), and lockpick. However, you could do without any of the spells and substitute others.

The one thing I strongly advise a mage to do is to learn how to fight and run. This is a game where ranged spells combined with running around a lot can enable even low level mages to beat very high level opponents. You will also find things simpler if you use lots of potions, alchemy is handy for making this cheaper.


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