Post-Union Battle Mage Guide
[header=top][b]Battle Mage Guide[/b][/header]
Right so I've never written a formal guide before but I was bored and I figured since none of the Battle Mage guides on Basil are even updated for Chaos yet it doesn't seem likely they will update for Union either. Besides we are probably going to get SP resets and it would be nice to know how to allocate my SP and if I am going to go through the trouble of doing the research I might as well share my findings with the rest of the community. Hopefully they don't go ahead and change BaMs again the day after I post this. Anyway on to the actual guide. First off will be my recommendations for SP assignment.
Okay it should be as up to date for Rise Against as it can be (given that the links to skills depend on Basil updating them and I have no control over that).
[header]Table of Contents [/header]
[s=/forum/2269295/#FirstJob] First Job [/s]
[s=/forum/2269295/#SecondJob] Second Job [/s]
[s=/forum/2269295/#ThirdJob] Third Job [/s]
[s=/forum/2269295/#FourthJob] Fourth Job [/s]
[s=/forum/2269295/#TrainingSpots] Training Spots [/s]
[s=/forum/2269295/#FAQ] FAQ [/s]
[header=FirstJob][b]First Job[/b][/header]
Well as soon as you job advance you will get five SP. You can add one to teleport early for more mobility if you don't mind the pot cost. Personally I like putting 1 into most skills as soon as I job advance so I can get used to them and because a lot of skills pack a ton of power for the 1 SP investment. These levels go by so quickly the order doesn't make much difference anyway.
10: +1 Teleport, +1 Dark Aura, +2 Triple Blow, +1 The Finisher
11: +3 Triple Blow
12: +3 Triple Blow
13: +3 Triple Blow
14: +3 Triple Blow
15: +3 Triple Blow
16: +3 Triple Blow (Max)
17: +3 Teleport
18: +3 Teleport
19: +3 Teleport
20: +3 Teleport
21: +2 Teleport (Max), +1 Dark Aura
22: +3 Dark Aura
23: +3 Dark Aura
24: +3 Dark Aura
25: +3 Dark Aura
26: +3 Dark Aura
27: +3 Dark Aura (Max)
28: +3 The Finisher
29: +3 The Finisher
30: +3 The Finisher (Max)
Skill Summary:
[skill=Battle-Mage-1=Triple-Blow] Triple Blow (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-1=Teleport] Teleport (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-1=Dark-Aura] Dark Aura (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-1=The-Finisher] The Finisher (Maxed)
Okay so you actually get to max all your skills. Isn't that awesome? Anyway. The reasoning behind the order of the skills is simple. 1 into teleport in the beginning for added mobility, 1 into Dark Aura so that you can have it and look awesome and because having a party buff is nice even if it is only 1% more damage, 1 into The Finisher mostly so you can get used to it early on but also because it can be fun seeing the extra line of dmg every now and then. Then you max Triple Blow because it is your main attack skill in first job. After that you want to get Teleport maxed for longer range and lessened drain on pots.
At this point your other skills aren't going to help your damage that much and letting you get to enemies faster will help you train faster. After that you max Dark Aura because it is a good damage increasing skill and is an awesome party buff and anyone you party with will greatly appreciate it. You lastly max The Finisher because you don't have anything else to max although it does have it's good points even in first job.
As a note you might want to max out teleport before TB if you have a good amount of funding as the ability to get to monsters faster is better if you can already OHKO them with level 1 TB.
[header=SecondJob][b]Second Job[/b][/header]
Okay so you only get 3 SP now but you can get another 7 later during the Alliance Quest which will allow you to max everything at least.
30: +1 Quad Blow, +1 Yellow Aura, +1 Hyper Dark Chain
31: +1 Blood Drain, +2 Staff Mastery
32: +3 Staff Mastery
33: +3 Staff Boost
34: +3 Staff Boost
35: +3 Staff Boost
36: +3 Staff Mastery
37: +3 Staff Mastery
38: +3 Staff Mastery
39: +3 Staff Mastery
40: +3 Staff Mastery (Max)
41: +3 Quad Blow
42: +3 Quad Blow
43: +3 Quad Blow
44: +3 Quad Blow
45: +3 Quad Blow
46: +3 Quad Blow
47: +1 Quad Blow (Max), +2 Blood Drain
48: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
49: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
50: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
51: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
52: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
53: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
54: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
55: +2 Blood Drain, +1 Staff Boost
56: +1 Blood Drain (Max), +2 Staff Boost
57: +1 Staff Boost (Max), +2 High Wisdom
58: +3 High Wisdom
59: +3 High Wisdom
60: +2 High Wisdom (Max) +1 Yellow Aura
61: +3 Yellow Aura
62: +3 Yellow Aura
63: +3 Yellow Aura
64: +3 Yellow Aura
65: +3 Yellow Aura
66: +3 Yellow Aura (Max)
67: +3 Hyper Dark Chains
68: +3 Hyper Dark Chains
69: +3 Hyper Dark Chains
70: +3 Hyper Dark Chains ([b]13[/b])
Skill Summary:
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=Quad-Blow] Quad Blow (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=Staff-Boost] Staff Boost (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=Staff-Mastery] Staff Mastery(Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=Hyper-Dark-Chain] Hyper Dark Chains([b]13[/b] or Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=Blood-Drain] Blood Drain (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=High-Wisdom] High Wisdom (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-2=Yellow-Aura] Yellow Aura (Maxed)
No more people asking how many SP to put in Blood Drain which is awesome. Plus having Booster and Drain at 120 second duration will be nice. On to the rationalization of my order.
First off is all the One SP Wonder skills again. Yellow Aura (now that it stacks with Dark Aura) is great for a little movement speed, faster attack speed, and to make you even better to parties. Blood Drain is a good pot saver even at level 1 and it's 63 second duration isn't that bad. Quad Blow is better than Triple Blow at level 1 and should replace it immediately. Dark Chains (now that it has the range that Advanced Dark Chains used to have) is an absolute must have skill. Mastery is only to give access to Booster for now. You get Booster to level 9 right away since it is an awesome skill and having a 65 second duration just barely makes recasting it bearable.
After that we max Mastery for some consistent damage. Quad Blow is next as our main attack skill. Then we alternate Booster and Drain so we can keep the durations close together so they can remain in a Macro (forever!). High Wisdom is next just for a little damage increase and then Yellow Aura. The speed from it is nice but not as good in my opinion (since we already have teleport) as more damage. Finally we pump the rest of our points into Hyper Dark Chains since the increased damage is nice but not necessary. If you do the Battle Mage Awakening quest you can max Hyper Dark Chains but if you don't do the quest you will only lose out on a little damage.
[header=ThirdJob][b]Third Job[/b][/header]
Okay then. This job is a tad bit... bizarre. Blue Aura and Advanced Blue Aura are both in this job now so that will be weird but whatever. As always there are a ton of skills that are just amazing with only 1 SP in them but we only get 3 SP instead of the five from 1st job and 10 from second. Ah well we will make it work somehow.
70: +1 Quintuple Blow, +1 Blue Aura, +1 Teleport Mastery
71: +1 Dark Shock, +1 Conversion, +1 Battle Mastery
72: +3 Battle Mastery
73: +3 Battle Mastery
74: +3 Battle Mastery
75: +3 Battle Mastery
76: +3 Battle Mastery
77: +3 Battle Mastery
78: +1 Battle Mastery (Max), +2 Quintuple Blow
79: +3 Quintuple Blow
80: +3 Quintuple Blow
81: +3 Quintuple Blow
82: +3 Quintuple Blow
83: +3 Quintuple Blow
84: +2 Quintuple Blow (Max), +1 Stance
85: +3 Stance
86: +3 Stance
87: +3 Stance (Max)
88: +3 Blue Aura
89: +3 Blue Aura
90: +3 Blue Aura (10)
91: +3 Body Boost
92: +3 Body Boost
93: +3 Body Boost
94: +3 Body Boost
95: +3 Body Boost
96: +3 Body Boost
97: +2 Body Boost (Max), +1 Blue Aura
98: +3 Blue Aura
99: +3 Blue Aura
100: +3 Blue Aura (Max)
101: +3 Advanced Blue Aura
102: +3 Advanced Blue Aura
103: +3 Advanced Blue Aura
104: +1 Advanced Blue Aura (Max), +2 Teleport Mastery
105: +3 Teleport Mastery
106: +3 Teleport Mastery
107: +1 Teleport Mastery (Max), +2 Dark Shock
108: +3 Dark Shock
109: +3 Dark Shock
110: +3 Dark Shock
111: +3 Dark Shock
112: +3 Dark Shock
113: +2 Dark Shock (Max), +1 Conversion
114: +3 Conversion
115: +3 Conversion
116: +2 Conversion (Max), +1 Reaper
117: +3 Reaper
118: +3 Reaper
119: +3 Reaper
120: +3 Reaper ([b]13[/b])
Skill Summary:
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Quintuple-Blow] Quintuple Blow (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Battle-Mastery] Battle Mastery (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Stance] Stance (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Body-Boost] Body Boost (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Blue-Aura] Blue Aura (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Advanced-Blue-Aura] Advanced Blue Aura (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Teleport-Mastery] Teleport Mastery (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Conversion] Conversion (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Dark-Shock] Dark Shock (Maxed)
[skill=Battle-Mage-3=Summon-Reaper-Buff] Summon Reaper Buff ([b]13[/b])
Okay so at least we won't get any more questions about whether to max ADC or Reaper since ADC is non-existent now. Only way to max Reaper would be to skimp out on an actually useful skill now. So no more max Reaper for me but that isn't too bad really. On to my ever so lovely explanations.
Obviously a lot of our skills are great with only 1 SP in them. Quintuple Blow replaced Quad Blow right away, Teleport Mastery is awesome even at level 1, and with Aura Stacking getting Blue Aura right off the bat is a fantastic idea. Dark Shock is fun for seeing big numbers and can be great for OHKOing a group of enemies and Conversions new 126 second duration makes it worth getting 1 SP early on. Then we max Battle Mastery for more damage (you'll notice BaMs don't tend to max our main attacks right away) and then follow that up with Quintuple Blow as our main attack. Then Stance since it only takes 3 levels and is awesome to have. You can wait until later if you want but I know I wouldn't since it is a great feeling to not get knocked back anymore. Then we put 10 SP into Blue Aura so we can access Body Boost. Body Boost is next since it is a massive.... everything increase now that Aura's Stack. One of our best skills by far. Then we finish up Blue Aura followed by Advanced Blue Aura so that we can maximize our defense early on. After that we get Conversion since like stance it is only 3 levels to max it and it will help out sometimes. Besides the rest of our skills are all of less importance right now. Then we get Teleport Mastery to add just a tad bit more damage to our attacks. Dark Shock is next mostly because nothing really good is left. As I said it is good for OHKOs and not a whole lot else so the reduced CD is nice but not the most important skill anymore. Then we toss the rest of our points onto Reaper. It's a fun and cool skill but there isn't any skill in 3rd job I would be willing to take points out of for it. Unfortunate.
[header=FourthJob][b]4th Job[/b][/header]
Wow. Gratz on 120. Took me 6 years to get my Hero to 120 so be happy you got here. Shouldn't take you as long as it took me thanks to all the changes that have been made to Maple over the years. Anyway. Skill time. A ton of amazing skills in 4th job await you. Seriously BaMs have some of the absolute coolest skills in the game. Ah yes. Like all 4th job builds this is an ideal build. As in assuming you don't have any issues with getting mastery books this is what you should do. If you have a ton of FB books and no way of getting ADA books just put the SP in FB and level faster rather than saving the SP for example. I'm not going to do a level by level on this job since it is so long. Instead I will do the first couple levels and then just a brief explanation of why or why not to max a skill at a given time period. The pros and cons of each skill and their relative importance.
[b]120[/b]: +1 Finishing Blow, +1 Dark Genesis, +1 Twister Spin
[b]121[/b]: +1 Advanced Yellow Aura, +1 Advanced Dark Aura, +1 Party Shield
Right so we put 1 SP into most of our skills again. I picked FB, DG, and TS for 120 over the other three since they are the most fun and flashy skills. It will make getting to 120 feel more awesome to be able to turn into a spinning cyclone of death or destroy an entire maps worth of enemies by summoning dark forces of death and destruction. Much better than merely having better Auras. Of course next level you will put one into each of them since 6% dodge is awesome (12% if they fix the passives.....) now that Auras stack and ADA is your top priority to level. Alright so now on to the skill summaries. I'm going to put them in the order I would advise you to max them in to make things simpler.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Advanced-Dark-Aura] [b]Advanced Dark Aura:[/b] This will increase your entire parties damage which is awesome. It's basically what BaMs are known for and it is well worth maxing it right off the bat. The DoT stacking effect will help tons on bosses as well but will be of limited use on mobbing.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Finishing-Blow][b]Finishing Blow:[/b] Your main attack skill so of course it is maxed next. As I said BaMs tend to max our main attack skills second and not first since we have so many awesome buff skills. It will increase your damage by more than ADA but since ADA affects the entire Party I would still go ADA first. FB comes with extra %crit rate which will also help your damage tons.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Twister-Spin][b]Twister Spin:[/b] An amazingly fun skill that is great mobbing damage. Great for places like LHC/SH or multi-part bosses like Zakum Arms and possibly HT. Has a great amount of range and damage and can be cancelled if you need to. No longer gives invince and you can't move during it but it pulls in
monsters and inflicts great damage. The CD starts as soon as you release the key and end the attack.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Battle-Rage][b]Battle Rage:[/b] Freaking amazing at bosses. Absolutely wrecks them. +40%dmg is insane and the extra crit % and crit dmg make it easy to get 100% crit rate on FB. The obvious downside to this is that you can only hit 1 target so this move has to be reserved for bossing. The CD is 30 seconds longer than
the duration but a lvl 120 Mech card can alleviate that. The passive effects are basically everything that Energize had plus some %ignore so that makes this skill well worth it even if you don't do any bossing.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Advanced-Yellow-Aura][b]Advanced Yellow Aura:[/b] With Aura stacking this will do wonders for you and your parties survivability. 20% chance to dodge attacks for the whole party and an additional 20% passive dodge for you if they fix it. Assuming BB works the same as it does now then it is another 40% dodge during BB for an amazing 80% chance to dodge all attacks most the time. Well worth maxing early and your party will love you for it.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Party-Shield][b]Party Shield:[/b] Useful on occasion. 40 seconds of not needing to heal or get knocked back can do a lot for a party especially at some hard hitting bosses. Not a high priority skill but at this point you are getting into the point where you just max any skill that has a use.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Dark-Genesis][b]Dark Genesis:[/b] Not very useful to max. At normal training spots like ToT level 1 can OHKO most enemies and at LHC/Stronghold it will lower your DPM. It also boosts Dark Shock's damage but then again Dark Shock isn't that amazing either so it's still not a great skill to max.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Maple-Warrior][b]Maple Warrior:[/b] Either amazing or useless depending on if the people you party with have it already or not. If you don't know anyone else with a high MW skill and can afford the books go ahead and max it earlier but since a lot of people do max it earlier you can save it until later if you boss/train with people that already have a high MW.
[skill=Battle-Mage-4=Hero's-Will][b]Hero's Will:[/b] This is an oddball skill in that you don't need it except at a few bosses where you really really need it. Just put points into it whenever you think you will need it. Most people usually put a few points in at around 160-170 when they go to HT.
As a note you will have 2 less SP than needed to max every skill. I suggest you leave Dark Genesis at 28 instead of 30 since you won't get much use out of the skill. With Useful CO you will want Maple Warrior at level 30 not 29 so you can get 16% all at level 31 without needing a Paladin.
[header=TrainingSpots]Training Spots[/header]
Alright so that takes care of the skill build. Honestly I hate listing training spots. In every build they either get outdated quickly, only list the insanely busy spots like Jesters, or just cause a mass influx of people into what was a good low-key training spot.
Honestly I just train at various Edelstein Monsters from 10-30 on any of my characters. From 30-120 you can do Monster Park and PQs and get along just fine. At 115 you can go to LHC if you are so inclined as well. I think I might leave this section more or less blank and await suggestions instead since I don't really train much anyway.
Okay so I have gotten some help (and thanks to making a Cannoneer and Mercedes some experience) with training and figure I should update this. More suggestions are always welcome of course.
1-15 Job Quests
15-30 Stone Golems -> Dark Stone Golem -> Mixed Stone Golems -> Ice Mixed Golems -> Fire Mixed Golems
31-35 Mushking Empire
35-45 CD/Mannequin
45-60 Drakes
60-70 Jesters/Plateons
70-80 Jesters/Magatia
80-90 Jesters/Magatia/MP3
90-100 MP3/Ludi
100-110 MP3/Ludi/Captains
110-120 LHC/Ludi
120-130 LHC/Ludi
130-140 LHC/Leafre
140-160 LHC/ToT
160-200 Stronghold/LHC/ToT
PQs, PvP, and MP are good at any level as well. I found PQing especially good in early fourth job since there are a ton of good prizes from some 120+ PQs like [item=Kenta's Goggles] and [item=Alma Von Leon Belt].
[header=FAQ]Frequently Asked Questions[/header]
[b]How important is Staff Speed?[/b]
[b]Should I use The Finisher?[/b]
[b]What should I do Pre-Union?[/b]
[b]When will Union hit?[/b]
[b]Where to cap luck?[/b]
[b]Staff Speed:[/b]
Well turns out my previous post was based on a misconception about BB that I wound up disproving at the behest of @j1mm13valadez. Since BB + AYA is 3 total steps of speed and BB lasts 60 out of every 90 seconds (more with Mech/Merc cards or 100% of the time once we get Hyper Skills) it isn't a big deal anymore. You will still be better off using either an Ele 1-4, DTM, or Ele 5-8 but now I would say that the Ele 1-4 is not as good as a DTM and that the Ele 5-8 and DTM are more or less equal. So out of those three staves you can basically choose whichever one you want although the DTM is probably the best bang for your buck once you get the 6 set effect.
[b]To use The Finisher or not to use The Finisher:[/b] [b]NO LONGER APPLICABLE TO GMS![/b]
I'm going to tackle this question for fourth job since that is when it is most important. So it shouldn't be too hard. Finishing Blow is 180% * 6 with 30% ignore at 990 MS and The Finisher is 840% with 35% ignore at 750 MS. Let's assume we are using a Fast 4 staff since most BaMs are going to be using one. We will also assume one Teleport Mastery coupled with each attack sequence. Okay so the %ignores are pretty close to eachother so we're going to ignore it for now and see how everything plays out to determine if it will be important or not. Okay so using both skills we get 2220% in 1320 MS which winds up with 1682% per second. If we use just Finishing Blow we get 1380% in 750 MS which winds up with 1840% per second. If you can manage to teleport on both FB and The Finisher in one sequence (as in FB + Tele + The Finisher + Tele) it is better but if you (like me) can't manage to do that then it is better DPM to just use FB with a teleport. The extra 5% ignore isn't going to make much of a difference but on some high PDEF bosses it might make a big enough difference to make it worthwhile. If you can't add the teleport into FB spam it is better to use The Finisher even without using a Teleport with The Finisher though. Of course if you can hit over 200,000 per line of FB it is better to skip The Finisher no matter what.
To sum that up the best DPM in order is:
FB + Tele + The Finisher + Tele
FB + Tele
FB + The Finisher + Tele
FB + The Finisher
FB
[b]Pre-Union Build[/b]
Even though we have Union some people that use Basil play EMS which doesn't so I will leave in the rough guide for pre-union to help out.
[quote=Cthulhusama]10: Triple Blow +2, The Finisher +1, Dark Aura +1, Teleport +1
11-16: Triple Blow +18
17-21: Teleport +14, Dark Aura +1
22-27: Dark Aura +18
28-30: The Finisher +9
30: Quad Blow +1, Yellow Aura +1, Dark Chains +1
31-37: +20 Staff Mastery, +1 Quad Blow
38-43: +18 Quad Blow
44-46: +9 Staff Booster
47-49: +9 Blood Drain
50-51: +5 Staff Booster, +1 Yellow Aura
52-57: +18 Yellow Aura
58-64: Dark Chains +19, Blue Aura +2
65-70: Blue Aura +18
70: Quint Blow +1, Teleport Mastery +1, Advanced Dark Chains +1
71: Dark Shock +1, Battle Mastery +2
72-77: Battle Mastery +18
78-84: Quint Blow +19, Body Boost +2
85-90: Body Boost +18
91-94: Advanced Dark Chains +10, Teleport Mastery +2
95-97: Teleport Mastery +7, Dark Shock +2
98-103: Dark Shock +17, Summon Reaper Buff +1
104-110: Summon Reaper Buff +19, Advanced Blue Aura +2
111-116: Advanced Blue Aura +18
117-120: Conversion +10, Advanced Dark Chains +2
120: Dark Genesis +1, Finishing Blow +1, Twister Spin +1
121: Advanced Dark Aura +1, Advanced Yellow Aura +1, Party Shield +1
After that max ADA, then FB, Energizer, Stance, TS, MW, Advanced Yellow Aura, Party Shield, D. Gen to 28, and Hero's Will when needed, [/quote]
[b]When will Advance of the Union hit GMS?[/b]
It already did! Aren't you happy?
[b]Where should I cap my Luck?[/b]
This is a tricky question. It depends on what items you have access to, how much funding you have, what your endgame equip goals are, and if you have a CS linked skill or not.
If you have <100 mil, no Evo Rings, and no CS I would get maybe 40 base luck.
If you have 100-1000mil, 1 or 2 Evo Rings, and a CS I would go luckless and go for the Elemental Staff 1-4 as an endgame weapon.
If you have 5bil+, all 3 Evo Rings, and a CS I would go luckless and get an Elemental 5-8.
Chances are most people fall somewhere between one of those three categories. It's hard to make a good guide for this since there are so many variables. Someone could be poor but have a CS and all 3 Evo rings from doing the events. Someone else could have 5bil but not have a CS or any of the Evo rings. A good general rule of thumb is that you can always add more luck later and it's better to have too little and need to level once or twice than too much.
[b]Hyper Skills[/b]
First of all I will provide links to the OrangeMushroom pages both for generic Hyper Skill info and BaM Hyper Skill info: http://orangemushroom.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/kms-ver-1-2-171-beginning-of-evolution-hyper-skills/
http://orangemushroom.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/kmst-ver-1-2-454-november-update-new-thief-resistance-automata/
Alright then. Some people saw that and immediately could tell what skills were worth getting and which weren't. Others probably weren't sure. So I figured I'd give a rundown of what I think is the most important skills to get. Currently I can't find the required levels for the BaM Skill Enhancing Passives so I will just list out which ones are worth it and which aren't ans I will give my recommended order later on as the information is available. So anyway.
Level 140: Obvious. +40 int is the obvious choice here.
Level 150: Depending on preference you should either get +40 luck or +10 jump.
Level 160: Whichever one you didn't pick last time.
Level 170: Okay so at this point you already have all the good skills that aren't too high level so just toss it in the +500 Wdef one.
Level 190: Again nothing good at this level. I'd just save this one until 200 unless you want to waste it and spend 100k resetting it at 200.
Level 200: Either assign both points or reset to get the one from last level back and put them into +10%crit and +15% HP.
Alright so on to the skill boosting ones. First of all forget about all of the Dark Shock ones. They are as useless as Dark Shock itself is and even with all the Hyper Skills it is worthless. Alright then. So all the Twister Spin ones are great. Bringing the damage up, the number of targets up, and the CD down will greatly increase your DPM. The teleport mastery ones are also great which would be a problem since you can only pick 2 if you get all 3 TS ones but since one increases the dmg of Teleport Mastery and the other one removes the damage there is no reason to get both. So pick if you want more DPM or more defense and either way get the increased range. Easy.
Edit: Knew I would forget something. Credits for KMS information go to Max from his Blog: http://orangemushroom.wordpress.com/ and credits to the skill speed information I used for the staff speed comparisons goes to Fiel from Southperry.
Edit2: Added in a section on whether or not to use The Finisher.
Edit3: Fixed the format and added links to the sections. Also added skill summaries to the end of each job.
Edit4: Altered third job build and added in tags for the skills.
Edit5: Added in a pre-Union build to help any newer players until Union hits.
Edit6: Added in a "When will Union hit GMS?" question to the FAQ section.
Edit7: Added in updated information on when the patch will arrive.
Edit8: Massive overhaul of second job to reflect changes from KMS to GMS and to account for personal experience with changes. Also fixed a typo.
Edit9: Random changes to hopefully improve the look. Added in a "Where to cap luck?" section to the FAQ.
Edit10: First steps of updating for Rise Against and a section for Hyper Skills.
[s=/forum/2269295/#Top] Top [/s]
168 Comments • Newest first
[quote=mattrimkevx]If you plan to get the hyper skill that makes teleport mastery deal no damage then there is no point in maxing it (unless the stun still applies, needs confirmation) in which case you can max reaper and leave tele mastery at 3.[/quote]
Uhh except teleport mastery increases distance? Not having reaper maxed is my excuse for not using it anyways. Actually no, I just don't use it because I don't like it, and I am surprised it wasn't made more useful or replaced with the update.
If you plan to get the hyper skill that makes teleport mastery deal no damage then there is no point in maxing it (unless the stun still applies, needs confirmation) in which case you can max reaper and leave tele mastery at 3.
The prerequisite for finishing blow is quintuple blow lvl 20.
Thanks to everyone for all the support. I've been too busy with a lot of IRL issues to work on this (not sure what else to do with it anyway).
I really hope this gets stickied soon, I'd hate to see a guide like this go to waste
[quote=Eclipsedragonz]Great guide! I'm using it for my BaM right now!
And also, I found training at Jesters slow at level 70... Any other recommendations? o.o[/quote]
Goto GoldenTemple while its available.
[quote=Hypatia]"Luk/Lukless is completely obsolete now and has been since Big Bang. It's much easier to cap for your weapon and adjust later for a shield if you decide to go for a Deimos Sage Shield. Once you're equipping stuff, your luk will change anyway and it's easier to make the adjustments then. Going lukless is a pain early on as everything requires luk. You COULD go get a bathrobe but no one does and they're crap for defense. You COULD get away with YSS but most people seem to NPC/throw theirs. Getting maple weapons is possible but again, no one really bothers for mages so you'd be hard pushed to find a decent one to buy. Not to mention a bathrobe is Lv 30, mage overalls go up to Lv 108 atm, meaning you'd benefit more from the third tier potential. There are VERY few third tier mage items that are lukless. Deimos Sage Shield is worth it but comes with a 160 Luk req which is hard to meet with a low luk. I've managed to do mine with an egged CHTP, full aura rings, looking at the luk on my rings, aura pendant... Yeah you'd be pushing it. Suddenly all those 1 and 2 luks on the rest of your gear make a lot of difference."
Credits to Bellatrixa[/quote]
I don't think it is that hard. Evo Rings 1-3 + Pirate's Blessing is 39 luck and is available from level 1. Codex is also %2
Edit: Wow... so this post was like ten times longer when I pressed submit but apparently Basil was hungry and ate most of it. I really don't feel like retyping it though so you will have to take my word for it that it was a much longer post that thoroughly explained why a little funding and a lot of planning make luckless easy.
very helpful
should be sticky
[quote=dorne]Question: Why hasn't this thread been under Guides in the Battle Mage Section? It seems far too long to have a guide go unrecognized. Had this been under there, many people would not need to come seek help on things discussed in this guide because of an obselete guide.[/quote]
Ask Mr. Basil and/or his mods I guess.
Question: Why hasn't this thread been under Guides in the Battle Mage Section? It seems far too long to have a guide go unrecognized. Had this been under there, many people would not need to come seek help on things discussed in this guide because of an obselete guide.
@evilslasher: Glad you found it useful.
@Coolninja111: Thank you.
@Sukau: Have fun with your BaM. It's a great class.
@ElementalFairy: I'm happy to help the community.
@Fusion09: Glad I helped.
@FlapYourWings: Glad you found it helpful. I always check in the guide to make any needed revisions, thank anyone for contributing, and help people with any questions. Always glad to have people offer their input. There are a few good new spots that have come out lately that I will put in at some point.
awesome guide, helped me tons
Nice guide, just started my BaM today, infinitely useful
@TomTzayig: If you've ever tried to fight Zakum with a low level stance..... yeah that's not fun lol.
@Cthulhusama: i think that stance is a bit less important, i care more about fun then if my knock-back % is 95% or 65%
@alanhu95: Huh? My guide has Blue Aura as max level 20. ABA is max level 10 but that is accurate. Maybe you got confused since I have you putting 10 SP into BA and then stopping to max BB but that is because you need at least 10 in each aura to access BB.
@TomTzayig: I agree that max reaper was a hell of a lot of fun but I just can't really justify taking those points out of any of the other skills. The gain would be too small. I wish that we could max it without sacrificing a better skill but sadly that isn't the way they built the class.
@Mystelteinn: Post-Union my BaM had 0 BA but still had 10 in ABA. I used my 23 SP to max Stance and get 13 BA and the little skill symbol in the top right corner said "Advanced Blue Aura" although I don't know whether the effect was the BA one or the ABA one but it doesn't really matter since I used an SP reset scroll and maxed BA anyway.
@MyNameDoesntFi: Thank you. I'm always glad to help and it's great to get feedback. Also your basil ID is really funny.
@Mystelteinn My BaM had 0 BA and 10 ABA when I logged on. ABA was not active since I was only able to put 13 points into BA.
@gigaslashss Yes, do the alliance quest and the Battle Mage Awakening quest that requires you to collect the 10 pieces of rock. It'll give you a full SP reset.
nice i love it, but from former expirence, max reapers is funnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn <3
[quote=Mystelteinn]You shouldn't even have had 10 points in ABA if your BA was reset to 0.
My ABA and BA were both reset to 0 after Union patch.[/quote]
So would you advise me to get the SP reset or just leave 13BA and 10ABA?
[quote=gigaslashss]I recently returned to maple because of the union patch and when i went on my BaM it had 23 spare SP in 3rd job. I placed 10 into stance and 13 into blue aura, but my ABA was already level 10 because I had that before the patch. When i use blue aura the top right corner buffs come up as ABA instead. This is probabbly a glitch but I'm wondering if its actually ABA buffs or just the normal blue aura. If its the actually ABA buff then I can have everything maxed.
*I didn't read any posts past the 3rd page so if this has been discussed please just repost what was said.[/quote]
You shouldn't even have had 10 points in ABA if your BA was reset to 0.
My ABA and BA were both reset to 0 after Union patch.
I recently returned to maple because of the union patch and when i went on my BaM it had 23 spare SP in 3rd job. I placed 10 into stance and 13 into blue aura, but my ABA was already level 10 because I had that before the patch. When i use blue aura the top right corner buffs come up as ABA instead. This is probabbly a glitch but I'm wondering if its actually ABA buffs or just the normal blue aura. If its the actually ABA buff then I can have everything maxed.
*I didn't read any posts past the 3rd page so if this has been discussed please just repost what was said.
@ElysianMage: I decided to add in a section on luck in the FAQ section although it is fairly brief.
@PepperCrab: I separate my paragraphs when they reach their natural stopping points and sometimes that just doesn't happen for a good length of text. I'm not going to add in artificial stopping points.
Might want to add a guide to why speed matters for a BaM, I see to many new BaM's using slow Staves. Also possibly mention in the Luk part that if you aren't planning on getting to 163 for an Ele 5-8 Lukless might be a better option since, elemental staves can be gotten fairly easily as lukless, especially if you have a cannoneer.
EDIT: re-read the guide to make sure I didn't address anything wrongly, I guess you already addressed the staff speed. And I may have looked over it, but did you make a Luk/Luckless/Low Luck decision section?
[quote=chickdigger802]odd. I couldn't seem to be able to 'trigger' the next quest after getting the flowers from sleepywood O_o. thought I had to do other class quests. Will investigate.[/quote]
The next part of the quest-line after getting the flowers from Sleepywood should trigger just by walking around in Edelstein. It is supposed to happen as soon as you exit the resistance base so I would suggest going into it and then talking to Claudine and then leaving. If it doesn't trigger (lightbulb appearing on the left of your screen) just sit around Edelstein for a little while and hopefully it will. The quest-line is ... rather badly worded and confusing at times.
[quote=Cthulhusama]@chickdigger802: I did the Alliance Quests without finishing the "Gift for the Subject" Questline so I don't know why you are having problems with it. Regardless it seems the Awakening quest is only an event so I re-worked the second job build as if you didn't have the extra 7 SP and added in a note about where to allocate those points at the end.
@Psydei: Well the issue isn't with dodging when the aura is on. That works fine. The issue is that the passive effects which should work with the aura off don't. They also don't work when the aura is on which leaves you with only the active %dodge. Basically (Since there is no reason to ever not have it on anymore) it means you are only getting half as much %dodge as you should be getting. Still a great skill but it sucks that they still haven't fixed this glitch. Although having ABA fixed was more important so at least that got fixed.
ANYWAY! I finally found time to update the guide for the changes in GMS (like Hyper Dark Chains hitting 8 at level 1 despite SP saying it was 4 at lvl 1 and 6 at max) along with the 7 SP coming from a quest. Everything should work much smoother now for people who try to follow the guide. If anyone else has any comments about things I missed or anything else just post them and I will either change it or explain why I don't think it needs to be changed. I hope I didn't miss any important changes. Sorry for anyone that was confused but to be honest I was too busy with my Son's birthday to update and wasn't aware of the need for changes until after the update hit.[/quote]
odd. I couldn't seem to be able to 'trigger' the next quest after getting the flowers from sleepywood O_o. thought I had to do other class quests. Will investigate.
@Cthulhusama: Ohhh I didn't know that, i see.
@chickdigger802: I did the Alliance Quests without finishing the "Gift for the Subject" Questline so I don't know why you are having problems with it. Regardless it seems the Awakening quest is only an event so I re-worked the second job build as if you didn't have the extra 7 SP and added in a note about where to allocate those points at the end.
@Psydei: Well the issue isn't with dodging when the aura is on. That works fine. The issue is that the passive effects which should work with the aura off don't. They also don't work when the aura is on which leaves you with only the active %dodge. Basically (Since there is no reason to ever not have it on anymore) it means you are only getting half as much %dodge as you should be getting. Still a great skill but it sucks that they still haven't fixed this glitch. Although having ABA fixed was more important so at least that got fixed.
ANYWAY! I finally found time to update the guide for the changes in GMS (like Hyper Dark Chains hitting 8 at level 1 despite SP saying it was 4 at lvl 1 and 6 at max) along with the 7 SP coming from a quest. Everything should work much smoother now for people who try to follow the guide. If anyone else has any comments about things I missed or anything else just post them and I will either change it or explain why I don't think it needs to be changed. I hope I didn't miss any important changes. Sorry for anyone that was confused but to be honest I was too busy with my Son's birthday to update and wasn't aware of the need for changes until after the update hit.
[quote=Cthulhusama]Was that with AYA on? I can get an F2 dodge every 7 or 8 hits with AYA active which would reflect the 15% active dodge of my level 20 AYA. I'm certainly not dodging 1 in 3 attacks like I should with the passive and active dodge.
Most of the people I see claiming that AYA is fixed have it at 30 so maybe it only works once it's maxed or something but all I know is that for me with AYA 20 the passive dodge chance doesn't work.[/quote]
Well of course I have AYA on, and that's odd, maybe it's like you say and it need to be maxed?
[quote=Mystelteinn]Yes it was, i did the quest just fine 5 minutes ago.
You just need to enter the door to the right on the map where the training guy is, in the alliance hideout.[/quote]
Can't enter the room. The glitch happens when you somehow start the alliance quests without finishing the class quests previously.
[quote=Psydei]I have had f2 dodged attacks many times °-° (aya maxed)[/quote]
Was that with AYA on? I can get an F2 dodge every 7 or 8 hits with AYA active which would reflect the 15% active dodge of my level 20 AYA. I'm certainly not dodging 1 in 3 attacks like I should with the passive and active dodge.
Most of the people I see claiming that AYA is fixed have it at 30 so maybe it only works once it's maxed or something but all I know is that for me with AYA 20 the passive dodge chance doesn't work.
[quote=Cthulhusama]@RiceEater523: It does not seem to be. I tested and never F2 dodged even once after ~100 hits despite having level 20 AYA.
@Rocketmasta: It's hard to tell for sure since I like to work with the actual numbers instead of going by in-game evidence and I can't find how quickly TS hits anywhere. I will say that it [i]seems[/i] to kill bosses faster than FB (despite FB having more %ignore).
Edit: Sorry about not updating the guide for any new changes in the past few days but I've been busy getting my Son's Birthday parties ready and working and haven't had much time to work on this. I've been trying to take a little bit of time to at least respond to posts since that can be done in a few minutes but I don't want to rush things with the guide itself.[/quote]
I have had f2 dodged attacks many times °-° (aya maxed)
[quote=chickdigger802]no it hasn't. I have no way to do gift for subject 2 because Vita does not exist anywhere. (she's technically in prison, but I can't enter that map no more)[/quote]
Yes it was, i did the quest just fine 5 minutes ago.
You just need to enter the door to the right on the map where the training guy is, in the alliance hideout.
[quote=zai1310]The alliance quest has been [b]fixed[/b].[/quote]
no it hasn't. I have no way to do gift for subject 2 because Vita does not exist anywhere. (she's technically in prison, but I can't enter that map no more)
Any chance of an updated build for people with glitched alliance quests? I personally went with just 13 hyper dark chain because it's not really big of a deal.
@Huspoel: I... have no plans on making my guide applicable for other version of Maplestory than GMS but will be more than happy to offer advice when I can. For training spots (not counting LHC which I avoid anyway lol) at 13X you should either PQ, MP, or go to Leafre. I think Rextons and Brextons are both pretty good as are Bains (if EMS has Showa Town). Once you get to 14X you will want to go to ToT.
@Fusion09: I haven't changed my guide yet (too busy with IRL obligations) but it seems that you get 3 SP when you job advance and get another 7 (for 10 total) when you finish the Alliance Quest. I was unaware of this until the update hit GMS and haven't been able to alter my guide as of yet.
at 2nd job advancement, i didnt get 10 SP... i got 3, is it normal? what did i do wrong?
@RiceEater523: It does not seem to be. I tested and never F2 dodged even once after ~100 hits despite having level 20 AYA.
@Rocketmasta: It's hard to tell for sure since I like to work with the actual numbers instead of going by in-game evidence and I can't find how quickly TS hits anywhere. I will say that it [i]seems[/i] to kill bosses faster than FB (despite FB having more %ignore).
Edit: Sorry about not updating the guide for any new changes in the past few days but I've been busy getting my Son's Birthday parties ready and working and haven't had much time to work on this. I've been trying to take a little bit of time to at least respond to posts since that can be done in a few minutes but I don't want to rush things with the guide itself.
[quote=RiceEater523]Just a question, do we still die from 1/1 with ABA? Thanks~[/quote]
Just tested on Pap and I did NOT die from his 1/1 attack despite having ABA on. Hit me 3 different times and I was at 1 HP/MP all 3 times. So it seems as though ABA is fixed.
[quote=KingBruno]Thnxs but is there a reason why i didnt get 10 sp when i did 2nd job advance =/[/quote]
I have to edit in a few things. Apparently you get the extra 7 SP from the Alliance Questline. So once you do that everything should be fine.
Thanks I like it i was looking for a Skill build for my Battle mage
@Mystelteinn: That sucks about your Mastery issue. It would have been nice to have them Xfer over (that way I could have gotten.... PS 30 I guess? lol) but I was paranoid I would do exactly what you did so I checked and re-checked lol.
@ShadowBo0m: Well Dark Shock is really good for taking out a group of enemies. It's really really easy to OHKO pretty much any non-Boss/LHC enemies even with practically no funding. Reaper is fun but it won't be as helpful IMO. Of course you are free to max Reaper if you feel it will fit in with your playstyle better.
[quote=ShadowBo0m]@Cthulhusama: Are you sure that Shock is better that Reaper?[/quote]
Well, Dark Shock is like ''THE'' skill that most people can use to achieve high damage (along with a back and forth telemastery) because of it's high % multiplier.
Why would you not want that?
@Cthulhusama: Are you sure that Shock is better that Reaper?
During second job you only get enough SP to max all but one skill (left at 13), but you get the remaining 7 SP after doing the alliance union quests.
Edit: Nvm I see you know already now, but definitely add it to the guide
Auras stacking in PvP? Helz yeah!
Or it's gonna get fixed in the s/c.
There's also that Aura/party glitch.
And i got screwed hardcore by nexon. I took the MMB, cause i didn't realize my masteries didn't transfer over to Energize, like i think it would. Stupid Nexon. And stupid me for not checking T_T
B> Energize 30 book....
I actually have a little dilemma, but I don't think I would care. My Energize is maxed, and I was planning to leave it at 20 (for now) and put 10 SP to another skill, like Twister Spin to 10 since it feels a little too weak at level 1. What do you think? I might add the 10 points after getting MW to 29 points (if I can afford, that is).
@necrocandy: awesome (: thanks
Well I'm still testing a few things so I can get a better in-game feel for the changes. Got a BaM from 1-30 (in a world in which I have no other characters so 0 funding, no blessing, etc.). Went by very fast. Wasn't that fun not even having enough money for potions though. Didn't get the 7 extra SP when I job advanced however. Currently testing if you get it from the Alliance quest-line. I need the SP reset scroll on Aku anyway although of course if I don't get the 7 SP I will then need to test the <75 Alliance quest line on my new unfunded BaM.
I think I am going to try to get the new BaM to at least 70 just to test if my build plans actually work in-game rather than just in theory.
@Dhaos: If I was playing on my main world with all my funding, blessing, evo rings, etc. I would probably go that route as well but on a brand new zero funding character the extra damage is actually VERY helpful. From playing in that situation (for testing purposes) I can say that maxing Triple Blow first is better for an unfunded character. Still I think I will rework my guide after I finish more in-game testing.
Edit: Oh and as for the few things I did manage to test so far:
Body Boost gives you the effects of all 3 auras exactly as expected. 10 secs of invincibility, 60 seconds of 40% more dmg from ADA, 40% dodge rate, and +1 (additional) attack speed.
You CAN stack auras in PvP.
Edit2: Okay successfully got the 7 SP from the Alliance Quest. Used it to max all my second job skills and the SP reset scroll to un-max Reaper.
Some one many have already told you buy.... Small typo?
"...summoning dark forces of death and dextruction."
...LOL Destruction*
Awesome guide! I'll be using this soon.
First job should be max tele, leave the blow move to 1 and finisher at 1 with dark aura at whatever.
Max tele for less MP cost, WAY better mobility, and of course, faster training. Battlemages are buff, and can use Triple Blow at level 1.