Mages Rejoice =P

[vjpholwanna]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mage/Wizard Guide by Ghent
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
=======================
Table of Contents
=======================
1. Version History and Introduction
2. The Stats
3. The Creation
3.1 Noviceness
3.2 The Mage Test
3.2 The Wizard Test
4. The Ethos
5. The Skills
5.1 Mage Skills
5.2 Wizard Skills
5.3 Skills from Cards/Job Skills
6. The Build Themes/Places to hunt
7. The Builds
7.1 Fire/Soul
7.2 Ice/Lightning (a short build)
7.3 Safety Wall
7.4 Party Support (AoE Specialist)
7.5 MS or LoV build
8. A Short Equipment guide
8.1 Basic Equipment
8.2 Other Options

Appendix A. Useful spells to support a mage/wizard
Appendix B. Stuff that iRO doesn't have yet (rumors, etc)
Appendix C. Contacts, Thanks, and Legal Junk
Appendix D. ToDo, and requests


===================================
1. Version History and Introduction
===================================

Version History *=non-public releases
---------------
0.8* July 25, 2003 Preview (Alpha) Release
0.9 Aug 26, 2003 Open Beta 1
0.9b Oct 12, 2003 Open Beta 2 (Updates for Comodo Patch to iRO)
0.9c* Dec 27, 2003 Updated spell descriptions and overviews
1.0 Apr 26, 2004 Updated for SPRegen Patch with Juno
2.0 Jul 24, 2004 Reorganized for clarity, refined several builds
2.0a Jul 26, 2004 Sightrasher description modified,FD->FN typo
2.1 Jul 30, 2004 Added SS&Phen drawbacks, dex/fabre cards(s1ster_ray)
Added Wizard Quest Section, more MS/LoV/SG info
2.1e Aug 11, 2004 Added SG5 & IW variants to 7.4, SS variant to 7.2,
grammar, more mage leveling spots
2.2 Aug 21, 2004 Added Appendix B, heavily edited Appendix A
2.3 Jan 20, 2005 Updated for most recent patches (Niffleheim)

Introduction
------------
Hello,
I decided to write this guide after looking through the various RO guides
and realizing that the mage has the the least informative guides in the game.
Since the mage and wizard classes are the second most knowledge-intensive
classes in the game (behind priests/acolytes), it's rather odd that they
don't have a useful guide.
As a response, I decided to create this guide... please send me any rants
or complaints and (particularly) corrections at the email address under
"Contacts"

This guide is not intended to duplicate the information easily availiable
from many of the fine iRO fansites out there on the net. I intend to only
write about things that an iRO player would need to know if he were new to
mages. If you aren't that familiar with RO, read a general guide first, then
come back to this guide.

Thanks,
Ghent


=================================
2. How the Mage/Wizard Stats work
=================================

There are two stats that directly effect a mage or wizards capabilities: Int
and Dex. In addition to this, many wizards will acquire one of the defensive
stats: Vit or Agi. By far the most common wizard build is to bring your int
to 99, followed by dex to 99. I think at least 95% of wizards are following
that route. This requires you to not put points anywhere else (not a single
point). It also requires you to have started with 9 points in Int and Dex ea.
However, there are other considerations to your stats. Below I describe what
each stat does.

Int
---
The primary mage/wizard stat... int is all powerful. There is nothing a
mage/wizard does that s/he does not do better with more int. Generally
speaking, until your mage's int is at least 70,
DO NOT PUT SKILL POINTS ANYWHERE ELSE!

Even if you intend to "hybrid" your mage... get his int up to 70 before
getting started on the second stat... believe me on this okay?
Int adds to your total sp, your sp regen rate (the regular regen, not the
skill), and the damage your spells do. Every level, both maximum and minimum
MATK go up by 1. In addition, every 5, your max goes up by a large amount,
and every 7, your min goes up by a large amount (usually around 20-30).

Dex
---
This decreases your casting time. Although that sounds wonderful, it isn't
necessary until you have alot of high-casttime spells (as a wizard). To give
you a rough idea, at dex:40 your spells will take around 1/4 less time to
cast. At dex:75 they'll take around 1/2 the time to cast. At 100, they should
take 1/3rd or so. With full dex equipment and a blessing, a 99int, 99dex
wizard should have a dex of 130. That will allow him to cast spells at 8% of
the time it normally takes with a suffragium. (good for MVPing or WoE)

Agi
---
This stat is used in combination with level to determine a chance of dodging
a monster's attacks. In combination with the quagmire wizard spell, this can
be very effective in PvM (player vs monsters). The reason this stat has lost
favor recently is that it is almost completely useless for PvP (such as the
high-level game of WoE). The other problem with Agi is that it is not useful
unless you get large amounts of it. The only real builds involving agi require
at least 70 points, which takes many points away from the cast time-reducing
dex or the damage-increasing int. This contrasts sharply with vit.

Vit
---
Recently, this has become a favorite third stat for wizards intending to MVP
heavily or participate in WoE to a great extent. The reasoning for this has
to do with both the increased hitpoints (+1% per point), and even moreso
with the increased resistance to status effects. Most boss monsters now use
many skills that cause blind, stun or other ailments to effect large areas
around them. In addition, every little bit of resistance to Lex Divina
(Silence) helps in WoE. The other nice thing about vit is that 40 points is
helpful, unlike agi which requires at least 60 before making a noticeable
difference. Usually people will sacrifice 10 points (or so) of int to get the
30 or so vit they want.

Other Stats
-----------
STR and LUK, as far as I can tell... are completely useless to a mage/wiz.

==========================================================
3. A short overview of novice training and becoming a mage
==========================================================

3.1 Novice Training
-------------------
Okay, frankly... being a mage novice sucks... really, really badly.
Starting stats should be pretty obvious, 9 int, give yourself some dex, other
than that, it only helps you while you're a novice. As you're getting your
levels, only put points into int... it starts here.
The first few levels fly by (as they always do). But when you're stuck at
10/8 or so, and everything you can kill gives you < .5% job xp... the world
sucks.
Your options are, get a higher level character to tank you, anything around
level 40 can tank you on Creamy's, and they give 12% job per kill. You can
just slog it out yourself, in which case you'll want to upgrade a main-gouche
to +7 and use that as your weapon, as well as buying a guard and sandals. If
you have a wealthier character, provide your mage-to-be with a Blade +7 and a
few dex cards, and see if you can't buy a tank with your other character.
Sometimes a higher level swordie/knight or theif/assasin will be willing to
tank you on either hode or creamies...


3.2 Becoming a Mage
-------------------
To actually become a mage, you need to get to Geffen and walk into the
Mage's guild (NW Corner). If you are saved in either Morroc, Prontera, or
Payon, it might make this part alot easier. You need to talk to the person in
the back of the room to become a mage... and she will give you a quest. You
can talk to the bookshelf at the north end of the room and learn all the
requirements. You will be asked to provide one of four formula:

1) 2 Jellopy, 3 Fluff, 1 Milk, 1 Payon Solution (Code:8472, Yellow Gemstone)
2) 3 Jellopy, 1 Fluff, 1 Milk, No Solution Needed (Code:3735, Red Gemstone)
3) 6 Jellopy, 1 Fluff, 1 Payon Solution (Code:2750, Blue Gemstone)
4) 2 Jellopy, 3 Fluff, 1 Morroc Solution (Code:5429, 1c Diamond)

Often there are merchants in the room selling the necessary solutions. If
not, you're in for a long walk. I would recommend walking into geffen with
6 Jellopy, 3 fluff, and a milk in the first place, ideally with your save
point being in Payon or Prontera.

To Get the Morroc Solution) Enter Morroc, go to the North-West corner of
Morroc and through the warp. Now walk to the center of this map and you
should find an NPC named some variation on "Pocahontas." She will give you
the Morroc solution.
To Get the payon Solution) Enter Payon, then go to the archer villiage, the
north east exit out of Payon. Once in archer villiage, head for the eastern
path. The NPC should be on the side of the path a bit farther than halfway
up. There are two small lakes in Payon, the NPC is just to the north of the
southern lake.

When you have all the ingredients (except the gemstone), talk to the mixing
machine in the center of the room in Geffen. First it will ask you which
Solution you have brought, if you're mixing #2, just select "Skip Menu". Then
it asks you to enter the type and quantity of each ingredient. When you're
finished, select "Refer to Item List again". Initiate the mix, and keep going
until it asks you for the serial number and which catalyst stone to use.
Although you don't need to bring the gemstone, you DO need to remember which
one to use. The machine will give you an unknown potion, which you will bring
back to the original NPC who gave you the quest, and you will become a mage.
IMPORTANT: You must use the machine relatively quickly... no more than about
10 seconds between each entry. If you do not move fast enough, the box will
just close and you won't become a mage... and you'll have to get more
solution/jellopy/fluff/milk.

NOTE: I have heard there is an occasional bug where people simply cannot
succeed in the mage quest. Gravity said in their rotating FAQ that it was not
enough of a problem to be considered a major bug... if you've built up a
character to be a mage and then this happens, I recommend attempting a
support aco, since the stats would be appropriate... and also,my sympathies.

Your first Few Levels
---------------------
Your first few levels are real simple... whacking a few porings will give
you a job level... use your first 3-4 job levels to get a bolt, and remember
to buy a wand before you get too far away from Geffen. Don't think that it's
too early to plan out your mage.

YOU MUST KNOW WHAT KIND OF MAGE YOU ARE BUILDING, EVEN AT THIS LEVEL!

So if you haven't decided, and you are standing in Geffen after becoming a
mage... logoff, read through this and other FAQs, and decide your path.


3.3 The Wizard Test
-------------------
I find the wizard test rather easy at this point, but that may just be
because I play wizards/mages so much that it feels easy. The test is located
in the top level of geffen tower. If you didn't go to job 50, you need to
collect 10 blue, 10 red and 10 yellow gemstones first. Sometimes you need to
collect 5 green lives, red bloods, crystal blues and winds of verdure.
The second part is the quiz... there are three versions. I'm not answering
any questions that I feel you should know or are elsewhere in this guide.
But some of them don't make much sense.
Version 1:
Which spell is not a bolt type? Earth
Which is not a wizards specialty? Making alot of money (but we can
Which card is not related to int? Soldier Andre
How many int bonuses at job 40? 5
What equipment a wizard cannot equip? Cap
Version 2:
Which spell is not required to learn firewall? Napalm Beat 4
What is Napalm Beat's damage multiplier? 9 is 1.6x, 10 is 1.7x
Which gem is needed for stone curse? Red
Which spell is required before getting safety wall? Napalm Beat 4
How much SP does level 7 sp regen give you? 21
Damage reduction from energy coat? 18% reduction, 2%sp
Safety Wall Level 7? SP:40, Hits:7
SP for LoV 10? 74
Most effective bolt for Byalan? hint: it's almost all water critters
Version 3:
What drops slotted guard? Ant Egg
Easiest for a mage to handle? Flora
What monster is immune to stone curse? Evil Druid
What is the % damage added if you use wind on level 3 water? 200%
Which will win BDF vs Familiar? BDW (I think)
Which is not a pet? Roda Frog
Which is weak to fire? Mace Goblin
Highest MDEF? Carmel
Different Kind of Monster? Ghostring, NOT SPORE!
Which is not undead? Not sure... Drake and Megalodons are undead though
If you fail, you might get these:
Monster with different attribute? Cornutus
Which doesn't loot? Zerom
Which doesn't recognize casting? Marina
Effective against Marine Sphere? Hint... it's in Byalon

The third section is a combat area... three rooms... all of which are a
bit tricky. I'll list the aggros (with *s) and cast detectors here:

Water Room: Obeaune*, Cornutus, Phen, Shellfish, Vadon
This room isn't hard to beat, but once you kill all the monsters, you have
to beat the "gatekeeper". The problem is that this is a marine sphere that
likes to self destruct. If it succeeds in suicide, you fail the test. Kill
1 hydra first, then kill the marine sphere. You'll need a decent level LB
here (or soul strike). It has 3518hp, and is strong to fire/water.

Earth Room: Mantis*, Orc Warrior*, Bigfoot, Caramel, Giearth,Savage,Vitata
This room is trivial if you have firewall. Otherwise FD+LB should work.
Like the Water room, this room has a gatekeeper, but I think this one's
pretty trivial.

Fire Room: Desert Wolf*,Zerom*,Goblin*,Scorpion*,ElderWillow*,FrillDora
This room is a bit hard simply because of the huge number of aggressives.
There's a neat trick you can use here though even if you don't have a high
level frost diver. None of the first set of creatures inthe room is a
powerful enough fire creature to break a firewall... so a firewall will
stop them, it just won't do the kind of damage it was doing in the earth
room. The Gatekeeper horongs, on the other hand, will require something
else, since they walk right through firewall.

FAILURE: If you fail the test, you will be teleported (and saved) standing
outside of geffen tower. You can go back in and retake the quiz and combat
sections of the test. If you fail 5-6 times, pay careful attention to what
the NPC is telling you... he should give you an option to skip the combat
test if you give him a worn out scroll. Aparently you need to at least
make it as far as the Marine Sphere 5 times before this option appears.


==========================================
4. The essence of mageyness/wizardry
==========================================

Mages work on a very simple principle. We have something to hold the big
mean monster a short distance away from us, and then we cast our hideously
powerful magic. The protection can be a spell we cast on the enemy (Firewall
or Frost Diver), a spell cast on ourselves (Safety Wall), or a tank . I've
summarized this in the past with the saying "A Mage needs some way to hold
back a big nasty thing, and drop magey doom upon its head". One of the tasks
for a low level mage is to rush to level 10 on either FireWall or FrostDiver.
Mages/Wizards require quite a bit of research. You always need to know
which of your spells will be most effective in killing monsters in a
particular area. The chain of strengths Fire->Earth->Wind->Water->Fire->...
should be committed to memory.
Although each mage may have his or her own style... there is a general
philosophy guiding how to level a mage. For the first 30 job levels, mages
hunt non-aggro monsters that are particularly vulnerable to whatever spells
the mage has. Once you've exhausted these options... mages usually hunt in
argiope, moving to the clocktower's alarms and clocks to finish off their
mage levels.
Wizards usually stay in the same place to quickly get a few levels... then
either party, hunt GH, or continue soloing in the CT (boring...).

[vjpholwanna]

==========================================
5. Spell Information you might not know
==========================================

5.1 Mage Spells
---------------
Increased SP Regen: When I was first making mages (and first writing this
guide), I brought my sp regen all the way to level 10. This was a really big
mistake. Post-Juno, there is no reason to ever bring your sp regen past 5.
Many people (myself included) usually skip this skill completely.

FireBolt/IceBolt/LightningBolt: Not much to say here. This is the most
efficient damage/sp ratio of anything in the game. You pay for it with the
longish cast time, but for soloing, these are great. Note that almost all
creatures are strong to at least one of these, and weak to another.
Fire Bolt is the most generally useful, since undead + earth are weak to it.
These days I usually get level 10 firebolt on my mages.
Lighting Bolt will usually be replaced by Jupitel Thunder as a wizard
Cold Bolt is the one I'm neutral on. It's nice...but not worth maxing like FB

Soul Strike: Every other level, you get another "soul". So at level 10 you
have the same killing power as a level 5 bolt. Theoretically, on the even
levels, your cast time decreases by 1/2, but the spell is so fast I'm not
sure you can notice. At level 10, the cast time is decresed by another 0.2
seconds, for a total cast time of 0.3 seconds. I haven't tried this yet.
One other important detail... there is a fairly hefty after-cast delay to
this spell. I think at level 10 you have to wait 2.7 seconds before you can
begin casting your next spell.

Mage AoE: (FireBall and ThunderStorm)
FireBall: Useless freaking spell... get it if you are going for FireWall. It
is almost rediculous how much better Thunderstorm is as an area effect mage
spell. A level 10 Fireball does equivelent base damage as a level 2 T Storm.
Thunderstorm: With that said though, I have to admit that thunderstorm often
gets replaced by it's more powerful wizard version (Lord of Vermillion). TS
is basically an area of effect bolt. Level 10 does 10x damage as level 1.

Mage Defensive: (Firewall, Frost Diver and Safety Wall)
Fire Wall: The fundamental spell of the Fire mage builds.Lasts for (4+Lvl)sec.
Does not hold back undead (they take damage and bounce through). There's a
neat little trick to dealing with undead with Fire Wall though, learn it if
you can find someone to teach you. The higher level this spell is, it will
cast quicker, last longer, and takes more hits (from the enemy monster body)
to put it out.
Frost Diver: The fundamental spell of all ice mage builds. If successful, the
monster is frozen for (3xlevel) seconds. Cast time decreases as you level
this skill up. Unlike Fire Wall, SP used also decreases. SP used is
31-Level. Comodo has reduced the success rate for a level 10 FD to somewhere
in the vicinity of 65%. As a result, this spell can be tough to depend on at
higher levels. In case you're wondering, a Lightning Bolt or Jupiter Thunder
hitting a Frost Diver'd monster will do double damage because, while frozen,
a monsters element has been changed to water. So whatever you do, don't hit
a frozen monster with cold bolt. Also, Frost Diver has started to do
considerable damage post-Comodo. I believe this is because some of the
monsters' Magic Defense does not count against this spell.
Safety Wall: Makes you completely immune from a certain number of
attacks within a certain duration. You MUST stay within the square you cast
the spell on. The spell lasts for (5xLevel) seconds or (1+Level) attacks.
This spell also eats a blue gemstone (~480zeny from a 20% DC merchant). One
unfortunate modification they made in Comodo, you can no longer cast it
continuously on yourself. You must cast it, walk into it, cast next to your
current location, and walk into that location... this can be quite a bit of
trouble. It is, however, still one of the most useful MVP spells in the game.

Unmentionables:
Stone Curse: Get SC:10 if you've got a spare pair of mistress sunnies laying
around. And if you do... why the heck are you reading this guide? However,
the earth line for the wizard contains some of the most useful spells in
the game... so I highly recomend getting this at level 1. Also, I've heard
that it can be an invaluable PvP spell... but I haven't tried this.
Napalm Beat: Nothing much to say. This spell is weak. Even at level 10 it's
not as good as a level 2 bolt (assuming elements don't complicate things).
However... it's a prerequisite for several good spells.

5.2 Wizard Spells
-----------------
Quagmire: Don't overlook this spell. An area of effect spell to slow a
monster down is incredibly useful. Aside from being a great support spell
for the melee types in a party, the ability to slow large mobs down is great
when you are hunting alarms solo.

Earth Spike: Should have been a mage spell... this is an earth property bolt

Jupiter Thunder: This is a really big lighting bolt with knockback. The
damage is supposed to be the same as a regular bolt+2 levels worth. So a
level 8 JT is supposed to be the same damage as a level 10 lighting bolt.
The other nice thing about JT is that there is NO aftercast delay. So you
can actually click to cast (during your JT's cast time) and your second
spell will immediately cast as soon as the JT goes off.

Waterball: Unlike the bolt spells, the waterball attacks come as 1-5
completely seperate attacks... as a result, if you waterball a creature that
has been FDd, the first ball will break the ice, and the remaining ones will
do full damage. This is not the same as a bolt, where the sum of the bolts
is considered together. The disadvantage is that you need to be near water
(or a Sage Waterball has the same "no cast delay" thing that JT has.

Sight Rasher: Due to a curious bug, Sight Rasher seems to ignore barriers
that would otherwise impede spellcasting. You can shoot over cliffs that you
cannot cast a directed (or even area effect) spell over. Highly useful
until/unless it's fixed. It would be nice if it did more damage though.

Fire Pillar: Used to be the ungodly powerful PvP/MVP spell... now it's pretty
much useless. It's simply too expensive (zeny-wise) to be used. And it
doesn't do the damage that the general area of effect spells do.

Ice Wall: Good to make little ice fortresses in aggro areas. It's also the
most common reason that wizards get banned for skill abuse (casting it in
town). I don't particuarly like this skill... but some find it essential.

[vjpholwanna]

Wizard Area of Effect Spells
----------------------------
Storm Gust: This is currently the most overpowered spell in the game. Here's
the system. This thing dishes out 10 hits per cast. After 3 hits things
will freeze. It gets a bit tricky because storm gust will knock monsters
back every time it does damage to them. Undead and Bosses don't freeze...
so they can take full damage from this spell. Level 10 storm gust is
currently the favorite MVP spell. It should be noted though, that for
leveling, you never need level 10 (level 5 is the most you ever really use)
Lord Of Vermillion: A VERY flashy, impressive looking spell. Unfortunately,
looks can be decieving. I have yet to be impressed by the damage I've seen.
Cast time is 15.5-(0.5xLevel). It has the advantage that it is a true area
of effect spell (unlike Meteor Storm), and things don't get knocked out of
the area of effect (unlike Storm Gust). Also... two wizards who are stacking
Lord of Vermillion and Storm Gust on top of each other can be hideously
potent. LoV is an all or nothing spell, either get level 10 or don't get it.
Meteor Storm: Meteor Storm does much more damage than Lord Of Vermillion,
but it's a bit tricky to use. Since the meteors fall randomly within the
area of effect, you need to get good at targeting things in the exact
center (all of the meteors will hit an enemy in the exact center). MS is
also an all or nothing spell... either get the whole thing, or don't get it.
Heaven's Drive: This is perhaps the simplest of the area of effect wizard
spells. It has a quick cast time, and is one of the best spells for killing
large mobs quickly (in Alarms, for example). It doesn't do much damage, but
being earth property it also covers what would otherwise be a weakness. This
is an extremely useful leveling spell (one of the most useful), but don't
expect the kind of power that LoV, SG or MS give you from it.
Frost Nova: Might have been useful... but they pretty much killed this one.
Cast delay is too long, freezing isn't guaranteed, and the targetting system
is just wierd. Level 1 storm gust is almost always a better choice.

A bit about SG, LoV and MS: SG does the most damage... 10 hits at 500% MATK
each gives an SG wizard a max damage of a level 50 cold bolt (against an
undead or against a boss, assuming they aren't kicked outside of the effect)
MS is second in this race. MS maxes out at 7 meteors at 500%MATK each. This
makes the total be 35x a firebolt in damage assuming all meteors hit.
LoV finishes third... as the equivelent of a paltry 11.5x a lightning bolt.
Contrary to rumor... frozen monsters don't take 23x from LoV... because the
first series of hits breaks the ice... it's been approximated at around 15x.
With that said, however, it must be acknowledged that LoV has a huge area
of effect, and it hits everything in it. The prevailing thought is that LoV
is better for leveling (player vs monster), MS is better for MVPing, and SG
is better at both MVPing (at level 10) and PvM (at levels 1-5) than either.
The reason I prefer MS to LoV (and sometimes SG) has to do with elements.
if a monster is double damage from fire (such as Maya), then MS will do 60x
your MATK to it, LoV won't touch her, and SG will do 50x damage. Hatii is
the only boss that you can't kill with only SG and MS... and I find that a
level 10 JT handles him just fine... since the Hatii mob isn't very scary,
and a level 10 JT does about the same damage as LoV.


5.3 Job Skills and Equipment Skills
-----------------------------------
First Aid: GET THIS! Until/Unless you get your healing clip, this is really
nice for a mage. Because of our SPregen, we get much better use of the 5hp
for 3sp trade off. You can pick this up at any time after becoming a job
level 7 novice. Talk to the NPC in the building behind (to the west of) the
toolshop in Prontera.

Energy Coat: VERY COOL...but you have to be job 35+ as a mage to get it. As
soon as you are, pick this up. If you're at full sp, and you get hit, the
damage is reduced by 30%. Obviously the lower your sp, the less the damage
is reduced, but it's still cool. I believe some of the damage goes into your
sp, but we recover sp alot easier than we recover hp. To get this, pick up
some minor junk, 2 glass beads (Gift merchant in south, south west
prontera), a 1 carat diamond (10k or so in Morroc). The spell lasts for
3-5min or so, unless you run out of sp (in which case it's cancelled).

Heal (Vitata Clip): This is the most useful of the accessory items. There is
no way to describe how useful this is to a mage/wizard. After the basic
equipment, this is your first priority.

Teleport (Creamy Clip): This is also incredibly useful. Teleport Clip + Heal
clip means that you no longer have expenses (no fly wings, no pots needed).

Smokey (Hide) Clip: Useful, but not essential. Personally I prefer to just
use Fly Wings/Creamy Clip if I need to get out of an area, but this might be
handy

Frilldora (Cloaking) Muffler: To use the Cloaking skill, you need to be next
to a wall. Once cloaked, however, you can move as long as you stay close to
a wall. This is nice for getting out of really bad situations.


=================================
6. Build Themes/Where to level?
=================================
This is where I answer questions along the lines of "Where do I hunt?". The
answer is easy... it depends on what spells you have.

6.1 As a mage
-------------
Whack porings and willows until you get a few levels of a bolt. Then follow
one of these paths.

If you have strong fire skills, you follow this path:
Mandragora->Boas/Snakes->Ants (Ant Hell)->Argiope
Another decent alternative at the higher levels is the plants that live just
south of Juno. (Geographers) You might want a teleport clip or lots of fly
wings for them though, since the drillers that live there can be mean.

Ice and lighting skills are almost always tied to each other. The following
are good ice/lightning targets. Generally speaking, you hunt either in the
Morroc deserts or in Bayalon Dungeon. At the very begining... whack novice
bait until you have enough int and ice bolt to handle desert wolf pups.
XP Weak to HP Critters
5 Ice +50% 83 Picky
20 Ice +50% 164 Desert Wolf Pups
23 Windx2 354 Plankton
38 Wind+75% 507 Kukre
59 Wind+75% 660 Hydra (You can outrange them /gg)
241 Ice +50% 926 Metaller
1238 Ice +75% 3632 Greatest Generals (also immobile)

After Metallers, you should have full frost diver and some lightning. Head on
up to argiope. One tactic that some low level mages have used is to hit
something like a Thera Frog, then immediately use the Hide ability from a
smokey clip, unhide, and continue killing the same one.
Another interesting alternative for mages with a good cold bolt is to use
a hide clip just two maps north of al de baran. Hit a Grand Peco with your
biggest cold bolt, then hide before it eats you. Then unhide and hit it
again. Some mages use the same idea at very low levels in bayalon.

Both varients give up on argiope somewhere in the low 40s (job level), and
head for alarms or clocks in the clocktower. If you have no lag, and are quick
with the fly wings, try prison instead.

6.2 As a wizard (or ambitious mage)
---------------
This part varies tremendously. I've decided to write this based on locations:
When I say you need a party, I mean you need both a priest and a tank. If I
say Vit Party, it means you're going to have someone mob for your AoE spell.
Some priests have enough vit & def to be the tank and the healer. There are
definetely other places you can hunt, but these are the only places that I
have found to be regularly efficient.

Above Ground: Not Worth it... Once you're a wizard, you're dungeon bound. The
only exception is when you're just having fun with friends/MVPing, or item
hunting.

Clocktower Alarms: (Levels:55+, Solo, Skills: FW,a bolt, Quag+HD/SG are nice)
The basic clocktower alarm map is crowded with mages and low level wizards
soloing. The one that requires a key used to be worth it, but they've added
too many Owl Dukes. Alarms are good xp... but very boring after the first
20 hours or so.

Clocktower High Orcs: (Levels: 80+, VitParty, Skills: SG, FW recomended)
Fast leveling for the high-level crowd. This place tends to get very
crowded though. Lower levels can hunt here... but you'll die more often.
You will need: Phen Clip, Cranial Guard, and preferably an Immune Muff.

Clocktower Penos: (Levels: 60-75, Pnuema Priest Needed, Skills: Waterball)
Easy and quick xp (really nice at low levels). Waterball is hideously
powerful on this water-filled map. If you're either quick with handling
the cramps and brilights (FW and FD) or preferably have a phen clip,
you'll do great here.

Clocktower Stem Worms: (Levels: Low Wizard, Solo, Skills: Quag, HD, FW)
Interesting place to level... good for building skills you'll need later
on. The xp isn't great though.

Glast Prison: (Levels: 55-80, Solo/Party, Skills:FW,FD,LB,Heal/SG, Quag+)
You can either solo this place with a broad array of mage skills... or get
storm gust and pretty much only use it to party here. You have to be quite
quick on the fly wings/teleport if you're soloing.

Glast Sewer/Stings: (Levels: ??, ??, Skills: FW+FB or FD+WB, Heal + ??)
This used to be THE place to level a fire mage... Gargoyles have made this
place a bit harder, but a recent patch reduced the number of them. This is
back to being a decent place to level, just bring your tele clip or a
tremendous number of fly wings.

Glast Castle 2: (Levels:75+/80-85+, Solo/Party, Skills:FW+FD+JT+Heal+Quag/SG)
This is basically the upgraded prison area. When soloing, again you have to
be quick on the fly wings or teleporting. This is a fairly intense area to
level in, but the drops are much better than something like alarms. Good
defense gear, plus immune and cranial (or hell guard) are highly recomended
here.

Izlude Dungeon 5: (Levels: ??, Party, Skills: LoV)
I've been told that decent xp can be acquired down here... never done it
myself though.

Niffleheim 2: (Levels: 85+ or 90+ Need High Dex, Party, Skills: SG)
This place can be decent if you have very high dex. It is excellent money,
but you need to have someone breaking the ice on the Loli's and Murder's.

Pyramids 4: (Levels:??, Solo/Party, Skills: Firewall, Quagmire, Storm Gust)
Sometimes a wizard will solo here. I think this is slower than gh though.

Turtle Island 2: (Levels:70-80, Solo, Skills: FW,FB:10,JT:8+,Equip:Heal+Tele)
This is a rather fun and wierd place to solo a wizard. I've found that it's
actually a decent place to solo when you get sick of alarms. It's a bit
expensive to get here... but good for a change of pace. Use the fact
that the Permeters and Soldiers are detectors against them to pull them
into your FW.

Turtle Island 1-4: (Levels:70+, Party, Skills: SG,LOV/MS/HD,Quag, Equip:Phen)
Get a priest, get a tank. If you can get a large party head for level 3/4.
On level 4, you want SG and Heavens Drive. Occasionally LoV is good... but
SG and HD are far more important. If you only have a small party, a vit
tank can hold several turtles in one spot while you use meteor storm.


=================================
7. The Builds
=================================
Unlike before, where I explained step by step where to level each build,
I've decided to generally describe where to level in an earlier section. And
here I'll just talk about the skills and interesting variations.
Just a note... if you come at this with no pre-concieved notions of what
spells are good, I'd recomend following one of the two 7.5 builds. They're
very good starts if you're not that familiar with the spells. Also note that
you don't need to get the spells in the order I've listed. I recomend either
getting all of the fire skills first, or all of the ice/lightning skills
first if you're getting both, but (as always), that's up to you.

7.1 Fire/Soul (with FD/JT)
-------------
As a Mage: FB:10,FBall:5,Sight:1,FW:10,CB:5,FD:10,NB:4,SS:4
As a Wizard: SS:->10,SC:1,ES:3,HD:5,Quag:5,SG:10,WB:5,LB:1,JT:10,Sense:1,+2

This build is designed for those who want the fast cast spell Soul Strike.
I want to keep it on one of my wizards, but I wanted to work out some good
wizard spells that would go with it. This is the result.
The last two could be put anywhere... it doesn't matter much. Some people
like to put a little bit of SP regen in when they're mages and get 8 points
worth of SS when they're wizards. You can also drop the FB a bit for SPregen
The logic here is to make sure you have the critical AoE spells (SG+HD),
keep the fast acting solo spell (Soul Strike), and still level quickly.
If you have a pneuma priest, grab waterball early and head for penos.


7.2 Ice/Lightning (a short build as a mage... see 7.5)
---------------------------------
As a Mage: LB:5, CB:5, SP:5, FD:10, LB:10, NB:1,SC:1,TS:1,Sight:1
+ more TS,SP or some FB
As a Wizard: SG:10,JT:10,WB:5,LoV:10,ES:3,HD:5,Quag:5,Sense:1

This is the only short build I list (one that doesn't require you to go to
job 50 as a mage). Personally, I don't like it. But alot of people seem to go
some variation of this route. I don't like it because you end up wasting
points either on LB or TS most of the time (if you bring them past 4 and 1),
and because you don't get what is the best solo spell in the game (Firewall).
Major Variants: LB:5,CB:5,SP:5,FD:10,LB:10,NB:4,SS:10,SC:1,TS:1,Sight:1
This variant gives you the fast cast soul strike skill as a mage. You still
have two more points that can be put into SP regen or what-have-you, or just
turn at job 48.


7.3 Safety Wall
---------------
As a Mage: FB:10,FBall:5,Sight:1,FW:10,CB:5,NB:7,SS:9,LB:1,SC:1
As a Wizard: FD:1, SG:10, JT:10, ES:3, HD:5, Quag:5, WB:5, SW:10

This is a decent build if you want the invulnerability spell Safety Wall.
As written, this is sacrificing LoV, MS and a useable frost diver. I suspect
this would be useful for the MVP-obsessed... but it weakens the wizard in
general.
Minor Variants: Drop a level from quag, HD, or WB and get SS:10
Replace WB with IceWall:5
Drop some of the Firebolt for some sp regen.
Major Variants: Drop Firebolt to 6, drop Waterball, max Frost Diver


7.4 Party Support (AoE Specialist)
----------------------------------
As a Mage: FB:10,FBall:5,Sight:1,FW:10,CB:5,FD:10,LB:4,TS:1,SC:1,NB:1, +1
As a Wizard: SG:10, ES:3, HD:5, Quag:4, JT:5, LoV:10, SR:2, MS:10

Note that you have one extra mage point... some people throw it into SP
regen fairly early on. I prefer to just grab an extra level of CB. I don't
recomend sp regen with this build since you're going to be mostly partying,
and priests like to keep mag up all the time anyways.

This is a fun build, but it does lack something alot of people expect from
a wizard... JT:10. Also note that you can't do penos with waterball. However
this is a very versatile party wizard. I recomend waiting a bit on MS,because
without the higher dex that comes at later levels...the cast time is painful.

Major Variants: Drop SG to 5, Max JT
This Variant drops SG from the list of MVP capable spells (unless you have
no competition), but it does give you a full JT, along with full MS and LoV.
Since you almost never use SG10 while leveling... SG5 is just fine for PvM.
Major Variant: Drop SG to 5, Get IceWall 5
Some people like to have icewall in their party... some party members hate
it... see above on the disadvantages of dropping SG to 5.

7.5 MS or LoV build
-------------------
As a Mage: FB:10,FBall:5,Sight:1,FW:10,CB:5,FD:10,LB:4,TS:1,SC:1,NB:1, +1
LoV Wizard: SG:10, WB:5, JT:10, ES:3, HD:5, Quag:5, LoV:10, Sense:1
MS Wizard: SG:10, WB:5, JT:10, ES:3, HD:5, Quag:4, SR:2, MS:10

Note that you have one extra mage point... some people throw it into SP
regen fairly early on. I prefer to just grab an extra level of CB.

These are just very common variants of each other. In my personal opinion,
MS/LoV wizards are the most powerful wizards in the game with three major
party support spells (MS/LoV, SG10 and HD), while maintaining the
versatility to solo effectively.
The MS wizard could exchange HD and Quag, or could drop a point from either
for a point of sense (although I wouldn't recomend it). Due to my distaste
for LoV, I prefer the MS variant, but it can't be argued that you get a more
"full" wizard with the LoV variant.

Major Variants: Drop WB, replace with IceWall 5
Waterball is a cool skill, but you're somewhat limited in when and where
you can use it. I personally don't like Icewall, but it fits the style of
some wizards I've seen. So if you want it, I recomend dropping WB for it.

7.6 The "Mistress Sunnies" build
--------------------------------
Purely hypothetical from my point of view... what would I build if I had a
pair? Probably something along these lines... and mostly just for fun
FB:4,SC:10,NB:7,SS:5,SW:10,Fball:5,Sight:1,FW:7
FW:10,FP:10,CB:5,FD:1,LB:1,JT:3,SG:10,ES:3,WB:4,HD:5,Quag:4

========================================
8. Useful equipment and when it's needed
========================================
Mages are rather fortunate... we don't really need zeny. Well... we do need
it from time to time, but not like the other classes do. Your expenses should
be extremely small until you reach wizard, and even then (provided you don't
use Safety Wall and Fire Pillar too often) should be very manageable.

8.1 Basic Equipment
-------------------
For one thing, mages don't need healing items very much. Of course, that's
a mixed blessing. Because the reason they don't need healing items is that we
don't have enough hit points to really make most healing items worth while.

Wands: Work your way up to the arc wand... remember the int bonuses and
when they occur. Sometimes you could get alot more damage out of your mage
by upgrading his wand. Of course, you can just wait till you can buy the Arc
Wand. They cost somewhere around 37,000 zeny from a 20% DC merchant, and I
don't see any reason to buy them from anyone else. The +3 int boost is
really nice, but I don't see any reason to buy it before level 35 or so. At
the moment... the best wand out there is the Evil Bone Wand(+4 int).

Elder Willow Card: It adds 2 to your int if you slot it into a headgear. I
wouldn't recomend saving one (if you find one early) for a nice headgear...
just drop it into the first slotted headgear that you can find that you
don't mind wearing for 20-30 levels. If you get a slotted crown or circlet,
you'll be able to afford to buy another EWC by that point.

Desert Wolf Pup Card: Most mages won't find one of these themselves, but
will buy them from whoever sells them. They add 1 to your int, and are worth
picking up if you find one cheap. If you do have one, I would buy a slotted
Silver Robe to slot this into. Often you can buy them in Geffen from knights
and assasins who are leveling in the second level of the Geffen Dungeon.
They shouldn't be very expensive.

[vjpholwanna]

8.2 Special Cards/Advanced Equipment
-----------------------------------------
Many wizards consider the Heal Clip to be essential. Most of the rest of
this can be considered optional. Note that any of these can use a belt
instead of a clip,but the belt is alot heavier... and we mages are not known
for being buff.

A Selection of Guards: Get a good set of +5-7 guards. You'll want Cranial
(Thara Frog), Brutal(Orc Warrior), of Gargantua(Bigfoot), and maybe
Heavy(Horn). Obviously if you're not extremely wealthy... start with a few
+4 guards... and move from there.

Andre Larva Card: (not yet implemented) Eventually, this will slot into your
Arc Wand to give you an additional +1 to your int. At that point, the
monster dropped version of the Arc Wand (with 2 slots) will be even more
expensive than it is now.

Apple of Archer: +3 dex, a fairly efficient trade for the int.

Creamy Card (Teleport): Nice, convenient, essential to solo in some places.

Crown/Tiara: Impressive looking MVP-dropped headgear that give 2 int.

Crown of the Mistress: INT+2, SP+100, indestructable, DEF:0, Upper, Min Lvl:75
Wearable only by female characters, requires a coronet (Mistress drop) to
make.

Drops Card (+1 Dex/Weapon): Until Andre Larva Cards Come out... this might
be the best card to drop into your wands... since most weapon cards do
nothing for a mage. Either this one or the fabre card.

Earing: Earings come in two versions, the version for level 20+ that adds 2
to your int, and the version for level 90+ that has a slot and adds 1 to
your int These are nice (and quite expensive) accesories for a wizard.

Fabre Card(+1 vit/+100hp): Some lower level mages might find it more helpful
to have a few fabre cards in their wands instead of Drops cards. At higher
levels, most will switch to Drops cards as they start to level up dex.

Frilldora (Cloaking) Muffler: Again, convenient, but not essential.

Horn of Succubus: INT+1, MDEF+10, DEF:4, Upper, Min Lvl:70
Not as good as other headgear... but it looks nice and evil.

Phen (Under Cast) Clip: This clip card allows you to continue to cast a spell
even after the spellcaster has been hit with damage. This is REALLY nice,
but will get you killed if you forget you're wearing it. The other thing to
remember is that post-juno (current iRO), there is a 25% cast delay to all
of your spells when you're wearing the phen clip. It also doesn't work in
WoE.

Reydric (Immune) Muffler: We mages are soft and squishy. A reydric muff will
reduce the damage from normal hits by 15%. Very nice.

Smokey (Hide) Clip: Useful, but not essential. Personally I prefer to just
use Fly Wings if I need to get out of an area, but this might be handy

Sohee Shoes: Provides +20% sp. I shouldn't have to explain that.

Verit Shoes: Provedes +8% to both hp and sp.

Vitata (Heal) Clip: Probably the most common wizard clip. This is insanely
useful for a mage/wizard. Because of the mage's SP Recovery, we get alot
better use out of the Heal clip than any other class. Most mages can heal
themselves for around 500hp every 10 seconds, which makes for some very
fast recoveries after death.

Whisper (Mocking) Muffler: Gives you Dodge+20. If you're int/agi... get it

Dream Equipment: (Pharaoh Card and Mistress Card) Okay, your chances of ever
getting your hands on these suckers are pretty much nil... but just so you
can dream.
The Pharaoh card cuts all your SP costs in half. So yeah... Lord Of
Vermilion no longer has a big scary cast cost, just a kinda big casting cost.
The Mistress Card allows you to cast skills that normally use gemstones
without using up the gemstone.


8.x Aprox. Costs (iRO Loki as of Spring 2004)
----------------------------------------
Arc Wand (1 slot): 45,000 from NPC, get a discount
Elder Willow Card: 100,000
Desert Wolf Pup Card: 100,000
Silver Robe: 20,000
Clip: 150,000
Phen Card: 4 mil
Vitata Card: 1.5mil
Smokie Card: 100,000
Frilldora Card: 4-9mil?
Reydric Card: 10mil
Slotted Muffler: 710,000
Sohee Card: 600,000
Slotted Shoes: 230,000


=========================================================
Appendix A. Support Skills/Spells for Mage/Wizard Support
=========================================================
So... your friends acolyte has just asked if he can team up with your mage
and you have no idea what spells he should use? Take a look, and ask him
what levels he has these spells at.

Acolyte Spells:
---------------
Heal: This is a no-brainer... however, a mage or wizard usually doensn't
need very much healing. Level 4 and 5 heals will almost always heal a mage
to full.
Agi Up: Ironically, this isn't terribly useful for a mage. Although the fast
walking certainly doesn't hurt
Blessing: Adds +1 to dex and int for every level... serious power. A level
30-40 aco can effectively add 5 levels worth of int to a mage. This is ALOT.
Pneuma: Immunity to ranged attacks... right around job level 30 this becomes
extremely useful, since it will protect you from Archer Skeletons in Alarms
and (if you have a very high damage spell 9000+, you could hunt in penos)
Decrease Agi: While not essential... this provides the same service as Quag.
This is arguably a bit of a waste of spell points for the aco though.

Priest Spells:
--------------
Lex Aeterna: Wow! Doubles the damage from the next attack... If you're
hunting something that is non-aggro (like clocks) this is very powerful.
Resurection and Kyrie Eleison: Unfortunately often necessary.
Suffragium: For your really big spells... level 3 will cut cast time
basically in half (I think it's 60% of normal).

Sages:
------
The sage ground target spells (Volcano, Deluge and Whirlwind) will boost the
damage that your spells do. Because of the gemstone requirements... this is
unlikely to be used outside of boss fights, but it's something to keep in
mind.

Bards/Dancers:
--------------
Power Chord: Temporary mistress card. This is a combo skill (requires
both a dancer and a bard), and lets you cast spells that would normally
require gemstones without using them. (FP/SW/SC)
Magic Strings: Cast time reduction. It's supposed to reduce cast time by ~40%
but the cool thing about this skill is that it also messes with the after
cast delay. This actually allows a wizard with sufficiently high dex to
stack their own SG and LoV on top of each other.
There's also a skill for additional SP... but I don't remember the name atm.

=================================
Appendix B. Rumors/Future Patches
=================================

Most of my information here comes from emperium.org (a great site for trying
to find out what's happening in the future for iRO. Although I'm arranging
these chronologically by what the other servers recieved these patches, we
might get them in any order at all (or not at all).


June 21, 2004 (kRO): Sight/Ruwach Patch
---------------------------------------
At the moment, sight and ruwach will reveal everything on the screen. After
this patch, Sight has a 7x7 range, and Ruwach has a slightly smaller range.
At the same time, they're putzing with Frost Nova. Reducing cast time and
making DEX affect the cast time again. Who knows... maybe they'll make it
worth it someday, but I wouldn't count on it.

Aug 10, 2004 (kRO): FirePillar Patch
------------------------------------
After Comodo, Firepillar became a useless skill. It was too expensive, could
no longer be stacked, and didn't do enough damage to be worth it. Gravity
decided to fix this. Now, levels 1-5 can only be cast in a 3x3 range (not
quite sure what this means), but these levels do not require a gemstone. Level
6-10 use a gemstone, and can be cast within a 7x7 area. SP is always 75, with
a 1 second after cast delay. You can cast under targets again, but you still
cannot stack with itself (or traps). Up to 5 pillars can be going at once.
I don't think this spell will be MVP capable (even with the fact that it will
ignore MDEF), but may turn into a worthwhile leveling spell now (like WB).

HIGH MAGE/HIGH WIZARD INFORMATION (or lack thereof)
---------------------------------
I'm not including information on the high wizard for three reasons:
1) Alot of the skills are still being changed by kRO gravity regularly.
I don't particularly feel like trying to keep up.
2) In order to make a High Wizard, you have to reach level 99/50 with your
regular wizard first... then you get to rebuild completely. I guess that I
feel that by the time you've made a level 99 wizard, you should know how to
play well enough to evaluate your own builds... and you should be beyond
guides. Read forums if you want skill lists.
3) I don't have one yet.


==================================================
Appendix C. Contacts, Thanks, Links and Legal Junk
==================================================
Contact Info: You can get ahold of me as DaisukeNiwa on Chaos, Kiruwa on Loki
or Satoshi-kun on either Loki or Sakray. Barring that, you could TRY
[e-mail], but good luck...I don't check that address very often.

Thanks to my friend Jon <poke>, my other friend Jon (the stampeded), and the
Vezrejai mage guild for the many useful discusions on their forums. More
recently, thanks to the ROLJ community... for consistantly asking enough
of the same questions to convince me that FAQs are worth while.
Thanks to Gravity for making the game, in spite of how irritating they can
be to deal with sometimes.

The links I find most useful when I'm doing RO research are:
Ragnamart: www.merchantguild.net/~ragnamart/Main.html
Neoseeker: www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/PC/ragnarok_online/faqs.html
Nitro 7: ro.nitro7.com/
Emperium/RagnaInfo: emperium.org/
GameFAQs for RO: www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/12848.html
Gravity's Site: iro.ragnarokonline.com/
Stat Calc: www.stud.ntnu.no/~magnusrk/calc/calc.html
Vezrejai Mages Guild Forums: vezrejai.castledragmire.com
VERY GOOD RO Database: www.rodatabase.org/
My own compilation of useful links: ra.cs.und.edu/~kerian

Legal Junk:
This guide may be publically displayed on any RO website or fansite provided
that the site does not charge members for access or require any form of
registration to access the guide. Any website that is not exclusively RO
related may post this guide after recieving permission from the copyright
holder. I retain the exclusive right to modify and update this guide, and no
versions of this guide modified or "updated" by people other than myself may
be posted online or published without express written permission.

On the other hand, however, if you are hosting this guide on a website,
please let me know at the above email address... just because it would be
cool to know.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

==========================================
Appendix D. ToDo, and my personal requests
==========================================

To DO:
------
Play around with a Pure Soul Build until I find one I like.

Requests:
---------
* I DO NOT want corrections to my price info above. I put a date on it for a
reason. If people are still thinking that's accurate 5 years from now, it's
their own freaking fault when they're dissappointed. I've simply rattled off
some of the prices that I see in town as I walk through, and I'm sure you can
both pay more and less for any of the articles I've mentioned. In fact, the
prices will undoubtedly be wrong by spring 2005, but that's life.
* Don't ask me to do spell descriptions that include the details like sp
cost... look them up yourself at one of the websites I mentioned above.
* If you have had success hunting somewhere I haven't described... drop me
a note. I'll try to check it out myself before including it in the guide, but
let me know what spells, party makeup and levels were involved.