Guide to Nexus Classes: Mage Tactics

The mage is one of the most unique paths of the four.  It is truly the path known for soloing throughout the game.  The path of mystery learns the secret of its first lighthing spell at a very low level.  This spell is known as singe. Upgraded versions shall come on along later.  A few of these are ignite, call
lighthing, and stormstrike. 

In the eary levels, (6-50), a mage will find these following tactics the most common for hunting.  In preperation of the hunt, he should take some mana restoring items.  These include thick wine, ogre drought, and Herb Pipe.  Also, something that few mages do not do but I always liked to do, was carry a few bear's livers along with me.  If i could not heal myself due to the target being far away or I was out of mana, these vital restoring bear's livers often saved my life.  Upon finding some place to hunt, it is often a good idea to find a barier between you and the monster you wish to kill.  By staying behind this barrier, you can kill the monster without it having a chance to strike at you.  However, there is not always bariers that can protect you.  Because of this, the best choice is to hit and run. 

Start a good number of squares away from the monster you wish to attack.  Start zapping it and running at an event pace with the monsters advancement. This shold keep you fairly safe.    At low levels, it is best to avoid any and all contact with monsters.  Running is by far the best choice.  However, there are times when you just can't run. 

Thus, here is what you should do.  If you are forced to have a monster hitting you, face him.  Damage from the sides and the back is much greater then damage infliced from the front.   Also, make sure you have harden armor and sanctuary when you get it.  These spells will greatly reduce the
damage inflicted upon you by monsters. 

Between the levels of 50 and 60 many changes occur in the path of the mage. Here some key spells are learned, thus changing the tactics of the mage.  Two
key spells in killing the animals that you will learn are venom and vex.  Venom is a spell that is in other games known as poision.  It will slowly drain the
monsters vital down to 1 vital if it sits there long enough.  Casting this on monsters is a great way to work down there vital without having to continualy
zap the monster over and over.    Vex, is another key spell.  Armor class is a number that helps figure out how much damage a hit will do.  Thus when you zap a monster, the armor class, commonly know as "ac", will help factor in how much damage is done.  Vex is a spell that lowers the ac of a monster by 30.  Thus,
casting this on a monster will make your zap do more damage.   

By this time you will also have a spell known as "heal" this great spell will fill up 500 vital per casting.  This will at times also allow you to hunt with warriors and rouges.  They do not have the ranged attacks, but can greatly damage a monster up close to it.  However, this allows the monster to attack them, and there vita  wears down very fast. By healing them you allow them to keep living and killing.  Another very important spell will be blind and paralzye. In general,both of these spells are used to stop an enemy.  Paralzye lasts for 20 seconds, where as blind lasts for 60 seconds.  However there is a key difference. 

When paralyzed the monster can not hit you at all if you are next to it.  However when it is blind, thought it will not move it can still attack you if you are
near it.  These two spells allows a mage to stop running and hidding behind rooms.  They are perhaps the foundation of the mage path.    About this time
you will also notice another type of zap spell.  It will hit the four squares around you.  One of the earlier versions of this is known as explode, and a
later version is called tempest.  this is not ranged, and hits the four squares around you. 

This spell is basically useless until you learn the secret of paralzye.  Once you have paralyze however, it be of some use to try out this spell hitting multiple monsters at once.  By this point and time you are probably starting to spend alot of money on mana restoring objects.  However, there is an alternative.  Around this level the spell invoke is taught.  This spell will restore all your mana but will take away some vital.  The amount of vital taken is 2/5 of your total mana.  Thus if you had 2,000 mana, it would take away 800 of your vital.  This spell is dangerous but is great for getting some mana.  However, due to some changes, it now has aethers on it.  The spell may only be cast once about every 37 seconds.  What are aethers you ask?  They are simply the amount of time before you can cast a spell again.

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