Hello fellow TQ lovers of the overworld, botebote77 here, a nobody and a self-proclaimed mage lover. Nobody knows me because i never registered in the old forums because of internet connection issues that time. But God knows how many times I've scourged that forum, and so, despite people not knowing me, some old TQ forum members are familiar to me. I have played this game from the old original TQ game, to TQIT, to UL/SV, and now to TQAE and TQ:R. Over 1000 hours in total.
Now to start, I am aware of the fact that mages are unpopular in this game probably because of the 80% CDR cap nerf. I am also aware that this will not change the fact that mages will remain unpopular even after i write this open letter. Still, there might be new or even long time players wanting to try a mage but just need a little help. I hope to be that help. Or one of those helps. Or if you're like me who likes to try things myself and likes to try things anyway despite of what other people say, let me be one of those few voices that say "just go for it".
Despite mages being unpopular, this has never stopped me from finding mage builds that work on all three difficulties. Also being a mage lover, the general consensus that mages are weaker than melees and ranged builds has never stopped me from trying to make mages as powerful or even stronger than most weapon users. I have played mages in TQIT and TQ:AE/R self-found or not. When i started playing TQAE, i have lost all my saves from TQIT so i had to play self-found again.
To be of help, i have to point out what i usually do and what i think about casters. I think the mind-sets for most gamers are:
str is for warriors, int is for casters and
shields are for warriors, staves for casters. I never saw it that way. For stats, i never saw it necessary to go all int. Sure you'll deal more damage but you'll also make your character as fragile as it can be. That makes you hit less because you'll spend some of your time running instead of attacking. Some like to mix it int and dex for defensive ability. But 1 DA per 1 dex? And DA doesn't even work on ranged and AoE attacks. A shield will give you better protection not just because of the block chance but also because most shields give lots of resists, and in some cases, give casters needed attributes, like in the case of
pelaron or
moon disc.
Deimos is also a shield that can help casters not just because of the all skills but also because of %physical damage (more on that later). But i admit not all of my casters invest in strength. My favorite character is still my dex/int sorcerer but still, i made her wear a shield: santa's shield. I didn't want to hamper her using a staff and having one less item slot. (very late edit: i don't mean DA is now bad. i just mean to not overlook str. there are workarounds to low DA. and in cases where DA seems the only solution, having a good shield often leads to good balance which often lead to good DA from items)
But going high strength limits our damaging capabilities, right? Not necessarily. The devs have gifted us in TQAE one key change that helps a caster immensely:
+ Physical damage from abilities and item bonuses now scales with Strength (10% per 65)
This is why i said %physical from Deimos helps. I take advantage of it with Distortion Wave from dream. That and:
+ Elemental Damage % bonuses now also boost fire, cold and lightning DoTs
Sweet. Physical damage from spells has been buffed. Elemental DoT has been buffed. Cooldown reduced to 4 secs. Sweet. Earth also deals mix physical and elemental. Having flat physical from items/skills and using throwing knives also work, as in the case of assassin for example, using battle standard to boost knives and traps. Traps are pets in AE and benefit from pet bonuses. The boost to Traps and Throwing knife are the main reasons why rogue is my favorite mastery in TQ:AE/R. Yes i think throwing knife has been buffed in TQAE despite the 10% chance (you'll see if you continue reading, you've gone far enough so why not continue
).
Some of the changes in TQAE I've explored are:
+Bleeding Damage now increases by 10% per 50 dexterity
+ Poison damages now increase by 10% per 50 dexterity
I'm sure the new vit int scaling also helps. I think also the pierce from items and abilities now scaling with dex.
I think you see now why i think throwing knife has been buffed in AE. Those changes and the fact that you won't be hostaged by recharge items anymore, allowing you to get necessary attributes like resists and life/mana steal from other items.
So i guess what I'm saying is, adapt and look for changes that help instead of changes that weaken us. Don't just limit yourselves to skills like ice shards because it's one of the few spells with zero cooldown. Look for new synergies like static charge now boosting both lightning and electrical burn. DoTs have been buffed in AE so a prophet focusing on lightning and EBD is still very much viable. Earth deals mix fire, burn and physical. And burn and physical from spells have been buffed in AE. Why not mix it with strength instead of going all int? You also have the option to wear a shield so you don't have to hide in stone all day making you attack more often, like in the case of hybrid melee int/str spamming eruption. Or a caster using core dweller to tank and spamming eruption and volcanic orb.
Now there's no way I'm talking mages and not talk about reduced resistances. Those always go hand in hand. Some people don't realize that, that's why they say mages fall short late game. It really doesn't if you get reduced resistances. One of the reasons why warfare is so good is because it has skills that reduce armor and physical resistances. It's just the same with mages. You need to reduce enemy resistances to be effective. So if you're playing mage and you have nature, hunting or storm, be sure to get susceptibility, flush out or squall. Spreading knives or ternion to reduce resistances is also very good. But actually, I'm still hesitant to call a ternion user a caster.
Ok, so now to close this, i still remember the few times I've played mage sorcerer in multiplayer. Several people asking me: "What build is that?" and me asking them when they portal to town: "Can you buy me mana pots?" lol Adios
my favorite charactera str/int casterMy nephew's. If it was mine i would've made it wear a shield.. probably
but it's good as it is.. Toxeus is a puppy
a str/dex melee assassin that can also go caster
a caster dreamkiller? why not?