Arch Mage Primary Talent: SPL
Secondary Talent: CON
Alternate Secondary: WIS
Arch Mage Unlisted Skill Effects:
- Mystery Illusion - 14 ticks over 4 seconds. Restores 4 AP
- Crimson Arrow - does 1 hit to enemies along the path of the arrow and a bundle of 2 hits (explosion) in a 7x7 cell radius around the arrow target. In total, the Targeted enemy takes 100% + [150% +150%] listed skill damage. Non-targeted enemies caught in AOE take 100%+100% of the listed skill damage for some reason. During Climax, all enemies in the AOE will take 200%+200% of the listed skill damage from the explosion instead.
- Floral Flare Road / All Bloom / Violent Quake - Spawned objects are treated as having their own Line of Sight independent of the caster when dealing damage. Allows these skills to hit enemies behind walls and obstacles
Arch Mage Skill Review (Opinion Only)
Non-AP Skills
- Soul Vulcan Strike: The only truly good skill as of Patch 14/09/2023. Soul Vulcan Strike has large AOE and is superior in damage to Soul Expansion even with 2x Soul Expansion Ring and Old Magic Stone Hat. This makes Soul Vulcan Strike superb as a complement to Comet, allowing it to shred Ghost enemies that Comet can't hit without needing to swap to Soul Expansion Rings. A must-have for all Comet users, and, given the slim pickings available, probably other builds as well.
- Mystery Illusion: Arch Mage version of Psychic Wave. There's technically a number of good things to say about this skill, including relatively high base damage (compared to the rest of our junk 4th job spells), decent AOE, high hit rate and so on. However, it can't compare to OCP or card strengthened Warlock skills, has a CD as long as it's duration and is further let down by being Shadow, which means there are enemies immune to it in every endgame dungeon except Odin 4. As a kicker, the only real way to get Shadow magic damage boosts is from Dy cards. The main value of this skill to Arch Mages at this patch is that it's got 4 AP and doesn't require a target to cast.
- Frozen Slash: See above. Smaller AOE and even worse damage, with a 4s cooldown time. Which doesn't matter since you're only using it to charge AP
AP Skills
- Destructive Hurricane - Climax 4: Coming to the first AP spender, Destructive Hurricane at Climax 4 is a 15 minute self-buff for 100 matk and 30% wind damage. This is obviously best for Pazuzu users, but flat 100 matk also benefits every other type of Arch Mage. Sadly, it's bogged down by our current magic damage cap - Physical classes may have an increased damage cap to 30 million, but Magic damage is still capped at 21 million. This means that Destructive Hurricane often ends up bumping spell damage (for well geared players) above 21 million and causes spells to miss and most players probably can't be arsed to sit down and figure out setups to maximize damage with and without Destructive Hurricane. This is arguably the best general purpose AP spender if you can't hit damage cap, but one of the worst if you can. Use once after activating Climax, and again before Climax runs out to enjoy 20 minutes of increased firepower.
- Crystal Impact - Climax 1: This has surprisingly become one of my favourite and most used AP spenders. Crystal Impact at Climax 1 becomes a 15 minute party-wide buff for 300 def and 100 mdef, which really helps out the already squishy Arch Mage. Use once after activating Climax, and again before Climax runs out to enjoy 20 minutes of increased tankiness.
- Astral Strike - I really, really wanted to like this skill. On one hand, it has incredible on-paper skill damage, it looks fantastic and for Comet Mages what can be better than more Comets? On the other hand, it costs 150 AP, has an unreasonable skill budget, a relatively small AOE and isn't particularly practical. Might be worth picking up if you play in parties with a dedicated tank, if you're that good at kiting while keeping the target in the damage AOE, or if you just want to see more Comet. It's still a powerful skill, no mistake, but it'll only really shine once we can build AP fast enough to use the skill more than once every 2-3 minutes.
- All Bloom - Climax 4: The old standby from other servers where 0s cd Comet doesn't exist. 100% fire resistance reduction is nothing to sniff at, and pairing this with spellbook True Kathryn Crimson Rocks gives you the best bang for your buck. If Crimson Rock is your main damage dealer, this is a surprisingly potent use of your AP and should not be underestimated.
The Rest of Them: Too slow (CD, ACD), too weak, and/or too random to consider. Rock Down, Crimson Arrow and Thunder Cannon additionally require a target, making them inefficient for AP charging. Use these for the fun of it.
Edited by 3096230415192656890, 16 September 2024 - 05:07 AM.