~ Chaos Magicians - Guide ~
Menu:
1~ Quick Overview
2~ Recommended Equipment
3~ Spells / Skills
4~ Recommended Pets
5~ Soloing
6~ Dungeon Parties
7~ PvP Gameplay
8~ Sieges
9~ Daggers for CMs?
1~ Quick Overview
Chaos Magicians is the second stage of those Asura magicians that have chosen high damage and AoE spells as main focus of their studies. In other words - CMs have higher magical power and many AoE spells which makes them quite different from warlocks. They deal spike damage in a shorter period of time (according to PvP), run out of MP quicker because of weaker corpse drains and mp-costly nukes / AoEs. Chaos Magicians have instant casting, powerful spells such as darkness arrow, fireblast, dark spiral which makes them known as Nukers.
2~ Recommended Equipment
Two-handed staff is a must to have as high m.atk as possible. Have at least two wisdom stones, and an int/wis ring. You can fill the rest of the sockets with int/vit stones. For DPs use dagger + shield set with one str, one dex and two vit stones but with staff you will also deal decent dmg with your, kahuna and cleric buffs. Get any helm (invisible one is fine too) because it has soulstone sockets in it.
3~ Spells / Skills
A lot of CMs spells are just extensions from the old skill table. First new spells you'll get are Thunder Slayer - AoE that works on the mobs IN FRONT OF the player without any graphical effects, not bad; and Fire Blast - at lvl1 does about the same damage as your current lvl of Darkness Arrow, but very quickly and cannot be cancelled unlike Darkness Arrow. It looks very like a Fire Arrow and is the only thing that would make Spirit of Fire not totally useless. Dark Spiral… this spell is one of the scariest things in this game , at lvl8 it does about 9k damage to each mob in the area; Magic Skin is good for running through dungeons and PvP, it takes some of your physical damage away and decreases your mp (don't cast on tanks in your DP ). Neutralize Magic is like magic skin but works with magic damage instead of physical… and it makes your feet glow blue! Heed of conjuror is totally useful, I mean, +19M.atk for the next spell comes in handy when ur using darkspiral , Haste of Conjuror - one of the greatest spells, also known as Instacast, it enables you to instantly cast any spell, but has 10min cooldown… what else is there to say? Meteor Shower - this skill makes Chaos Mages overpowered in PvP, it's an AoE fear (like head-break for striders). It will keep fearing the enemy as long as he's in the casted AoE range for about 30 seconds. If he accidentaly runs out of it, he'll stop after about 3 seconds but some silly non-ranged people are still running back into fear area. Heaven's Breaker is a lil underpowered in my opinion, it has less chance to stun than Thunder Splash but it looks better visually.
What to lvl up:
The only attack spells you would really want to be maxed out is life leech, corpse drains (which are from the first skill tree) and windy shackle.
Lvl up Magical Mastery everytime it allows you to.
Ocasionaly lvl up darkness arrow, fireblast, splash thunder and dark spiral.
Also lvl up speedy spell and skill cooltime reduce if you can.
Dark Might, Wind Weapon… if you DP a lot to make your party kill faster.
Magician's weapon mastery - lvl up from time to time just for DPs when you are using a dagger but it's a waste of JP for me.
Same with Mind Defense - for Sieges / PvP.
Ignore Fireball, Lightning, Fire Arrow, Lightning Bolt, Fire field, Spirit of Fire, Heed of Conjuror, Fire Storm, Dispell Magic (not working), Spell Breaker (also not working), Deep Evasion (sucks ass).
4~ Recommended Pets
Red Pixie, it does insane damage and has fear skill (good against field bosses and in PvP). Since CMs are a ranged class and 90% of the time mobs are moving towards you, RP is a perfect pet because it's also ranged and it doesnt waste its time chasing the moving mobs. Right-click your attack spells (except Scare) and use Creature Attack instead of manually controlling your RP's spells - autocast is a great thing. If you can't afford a red pixie, sorry i can't think of any tortus or poultry use except to put them on your belt - you will need a ranged pet. Blue Pixie sucks, sure it will keep your hp full but it will slow down your killing. "It's better to prevent than to heal". With a good RP a mob gets to hit you only once at a time and Life Leech is just enough to keep your hp full.
5~ Soloing
First of all, do NOT use a dagger. You'll need Int + Vit stones and rings. Basically what you do is chip a mob, wait 'til he gets just a bit closer and start spamming FA/LB
If you have 90%+ of hp/mp (most of the time)
Lure the mob with soulchip wait just a little bit to get in your spammable spells' range, hit creature attack key and start whacking him with FA/LB.
If you have less mp than hp
Kill mobs without using lifeleech and mp-drain their corpses until you have more mp than hp
If you have less hp than mp
Just cast windy shackle and lifeleech the mob.
If you have less than 50% of hp/mp
Slow down the killing and help yourself with scrolls/pots/food. Also cast blessing of the spirits if you have a pixie.
Against field bosses
Soulchip, then cast windyshackle, start spamming FA/LB, get your RP to fear it before Windy Shackle gets off, if it still has lots of HP - instacast some nuke spell on it (DA, FB, DS), if it doesn't just continue spamming FA/LB.
6~ Dungeon Parties
Since p.atk buffs and p.def debuffs are better than the magical ones, it's better to get a dagger and a shield (not necessarily highly upgraded) with str/vit/dex stones. It's better to melee-hit mobs while force chips are on rather than using your own soulchips which is a waste of money and time since the damage is the same with p.atk buffs. When the party pulls too many mobs and it's about to get wiped - cast dark spiral and immedately log after you're done (you don't want to stress your cleric out) or cast meteor shower and tell everyone to log. If it's not in danger but there are too many mobs pulled, just cast Splash Thunder (about 50% chance to stun) and/or Heaven's Breaker to stall other mobs with a short stun. Be nice, scroll cleric(s), help him/her with heals and remember about (re)buffing.
7~ PvP Gameplay
Get at least two wis stones if you like to PvP ocasionally. Red Pixie will be helpful since it's a ranged pet which will save you time chasing the opponent around, also its Scare skill is very useful in PvP. Windy Shackle is deadly (if it lands) against melee classes, use it. Also if owner's pets are known to have a weak defense, focus on them first since they can interrupt your casting, debuff, stun, hold or fear you. If you fight against SH, don't get too close
Strategy without meteor shower:
There are probably better ways
Before the countdown:
Pop wind/spell pots
Cast wind weapon and dark might on pet
Cast Magical Power Attack (?) and Blessing of the Spirits buffs
2 seconds before the countdown:
Deep Evasion (nerfed but it's always something)
Start hitting Nightmare key repeatedly
After countdown is done:
if Nightmare fails, use windy shackle or pixie's Scare
WATCH YOUR PET - it often unsleeps the target without any reason (autocast bug?)
Before or after DA, try stunning the enemy with Splash Thunder
Cast Darkness Arrow (if there's an unsleeped pet near by or any danger that you will get hit and get it cancelled skip this step)
Cast Fireblast (if you have time and some distance)
Instacast Dark Spiral
Spam FA/LB until nightmare is ready
Sleep again
…just finish him off.
Now with all skills:
Five seconds before it starts use Haste of Conjuror (instacast)
Now cast Meteor Shower (use lvl1)
Dark Spiral
Keep your RP attacking the opponent
Darkness Arrow
Fire Blast
FA/LB until meteor ends
Splash Thunder
Heavens Breaker
S/He should be dead by now but if not then you're kinda fucked, try stalling him with nightmare, windy shackle and pixie's fear and keep attacking.
8~ Sieges
What can I say… I haven't been to many sieges, you will run out of MP quickly. Dark Spiral [1200MP+] and Meteor Shower [600MP] is good against big groups - especially when there's lots of people attacking your core. Since you have to use your mp-costly spells a lot, you'll need a load of MP scrolls and pots. Stay away from groups but in your spell range - unless you're getting hurt
9~ Daggers for CMs?
In dungeon parties with 5 or more people? Fine. But unless you're out of your mind, don't try equipping your armor with Strength/Dexterity stones and solo with dagger + shield - you are not a warlock.
Chal's alternate advice:
Forget about Wisdom. If something is so high levelled that you can't hit it with your base M. Acc, you probably won't be able to kill it in time anyway. The only time you'd need Wisdom is when you PvP. I went with a build of full Intelligence with Agility and Vitality stones. I used the M. Atk earring, and Intelligence and Agility rings. I find that this build gives much more damage, and you get more MP this way. The Agility and Vitality let me dodge a lot and take more hits. I put a Pixy on my belt, so the more intelligence I have, the bigger the boost I get with the extra 10%. A Poultry actually seems to give more M. Atk, but the Pixy gives more MP.
Against field bosses, I find that the best strategy is to Nightmare it first, then chip, hit it with Dark Spiral and Haste Darkness Arrows. Then use Windy Shackles right when it comes up to you, and cast Fire Blast. Then just spam spell it to death, using Deep Evasion if Windy Shackles expires before the boss dies. Throw in a Life Leech somewhere in there too.
