General

Fire/Poison Magicians Owner Handbook

Welcome! I see you decided to take a look at the must-get F/p Mage manual! I will explain to you each skill currently updated in GMS, how it works, some of its history, and some tips that may come in handy. Numbers will not be included, you can go through SPerry or Basilmarket databases for that. I will [b]not[/b] include any skill builds, as the sexy @IImaplers 's [url=http://www.basilmarket.com/show/guide/420/0/FP_Skill_Distribution_Guide.html]FP skill distribution guide[/url] is as great as it is.
This guide is inspired by the works of Flenaris.

[header]Contents[/header]
[s=/forum/2617207/#1]History[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#2]General information[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#3]What is DoT?[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#4]Fire Poison Wizard[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#5]Fire Poison Mage[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#6]Fire Poison Arch Mage[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#7]Hyper skills[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#8]Training a F/p[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#9]Equipment[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#10]Where else can I increase my range?[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#11]Training Spots[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#12]Bossing[/s]
[s=/forum/2617207/#13]Acknowledgements[/s]

[quote=Please note]
Do not copy my guide, do not link it to anywhere else without crediting me, bla bla blah. That sort of thing.[/quote]

Some abbreviations I will be using:
[*] F/ps - Fire Poison Mages, eMages - Explorer Magicians, I/ls - Ice Lightning Mages, AM - Arch Mages (F/ps and I/ls)
[*] DoT - Damage over Time
[*] DPS - Damage per second, DPM - Damage per minute
[*] matk - Magic attack
[*] Pre-bb - Pre-Big Bang
[*] AoE - Area of effect, CD - Cool down
[*] Mobs - Monsters, Pots - Potions
[*] Exp - Experience
[*] MG: Magic Guard

[header=1]History[/header]
In the pre-bb era, F/ps were one of the least (if not the least) populated job of the game. Now, our numbers aren't as low, but we're still the least populated Mages. Back then...
[*] Bishops had HS, moreover Skelesaurus were Holy/Heal weak, allowing them to be great leechers, especially with no CD on ultimates. Many people also made SpearmanxCleric combos as well. Due to Heal, they also required the least amount of mesos to play with.
[*] I/ls were regarded as having better looking skill animations, thunder bolt had an edge over FA/PB because it mobs, and FA/PB never used to mob. Freezing allowed them to save pots, which means saving mesos. Get the connection?
[*] F/ps were the poorest mages out of the three, getting hit all the time. We don't get slow till the later levels. Most people maxed FA instead of PB, because FA had a better skill%. Not a lot of people know the potential of DoT.

Times have changed though. Now the AMs quite equal to each other, yet very different.

[header=2]General information[/header]
[header2]General mage facts[/header2]
Basically, we have the highest MP of all classes. We [i]should[/i] be regarded as "glass cannons" (Kanna successfully achieves that), however with MG, that makes us looks dodgy. Moreover, Nexon is bad at balancing classes. Some special things we magicians have that other classes don't:
[*]The more INT we have when leveling up, the more MP we gain.
[*]We are the only class for now that uses matk and int.
[*]We don't have a 4th job mastery skill mostly due to pre-bb, when our skills had masteries included in them. Therefore our minimum/maximum range difference is quite large.

[header2]Summary of the Fire Poison[/header2]
A magician whom possesses fire and poison based elemental skills is called a Fire Poison Mage! I bet that was a huge surprise for you. We are one out of the three choices for the 2nd job eMage advancement.

Stereotypically, we're known to 'fart' (and do very lethal ones). Sometimes we could be known as kill-stealers (Ksers) due to Mist's potential in big maps, or perhaps even botters (generally they prefer to choose I/l, CL sort of casts faster).

As much as people view F/ps and I/ls as "mirrors" of each other, this is very untrue. We may have similar skills, but our differences are extremely different, especially when it comes to 4th job, the time when our skills truely shine.

[header2]Pros/Cons[/header2]
[b]Pros[/b]
[*]A variety of skill 'styles'.
[*]Rainbow (We have all colours for our skills!).
[*]Considerably good as 'unfunded'.
[*]Unique playstyle.
[*]Teleport has a useful vertical range on certain maps, we can telecast for more dps (Check [s=/forum/2617207/#11]Bossing[/s]).

[b]Cons[/b]
[*]Easy death when MG is off (which is why you should remember to cast it!).
[*]Slow mobility (teleport has a long delay, which makes it worse if you have high ping).
[*]To some people, our skills obscure the screen a lot.
[*]Consume a lot of MP pots unless you have an Evan card or a JrBoogie familiar.[/quote]

[header2]Overall, how is it like?[/header2]
Speed-wise, I would say that you get a decently paced training. PB hits 6 mobs, you get tele, then the large AoE skills in 3rd job, and so on. However, tele is not as fast as Flash Jump, Double Flash Jump, Dragon Flight... basically any other mobility skill in the game. You can sit on a platform while holding down a key, not to worry whether if it's a 1v1 or mobbing skill, because Bolt in 1st job is our only 1v1 skill (and soon to be Meggido Flame)! That though, is less fun than actually playing it.

Playing a F/p damage-wise, it isn't a bad job if you're unfunded. In your Arch Mage levels, once you get to a certain range where you just cap ME, I/ls catch up in terms of dpm because Chain Lightning (CL) has a faster casting speed than Para (while ME is still stuck dealing 999,999*8, and Glacier Chain has a shorter CD and all that). Then when a F/p reaches a point where s/he caps with Para (presumedly has a high range), it'll be quite close with CL as DoT eventually stacks up.

[header2]To be UE, or not to be?[/header2]
Making an Ultimate Explorer as a FP (or any mage in general) just for Flame Gear, I don't find it practical. For one, you get Flame Gear when you start at Lv50, which is only a mere 10 (maybe 15 or so) levels away from getting Mist. People may argue with me that Flame Gear contributes to ME's damage, but no. [b]It doesn't.[/b] It makes your DoT damage higher, yes, but the maximum amount of different DoT skills you can use on ME is only five. If you make it for the Empress Might skill (-10 level requirement on armours), I suppose it is helpful, but 10 levels isn't hard to gain (yes, even 153~163 for an eStaff).
Therefore, making a F/p as a UE is not recommended.

[header=3]What is DoT?[/header]
One day, out of boredom, you wander into the F/p section of Basil. You then click on a thread, then the word "DoT" pops out. Utterly confused, you have no idea what does it mean. IF you're a F/p, shame on you.

DoT, short for Damage over Time, i.e., damage inflicted on a mob over a period of time in seconds. Pre-bb it was based off the mob's HP, and bosses aren't affected by this. At present time, it is based off on your max range - meaning, %total damage, %pdr and %boss potential lines do not affect your DoT. However, DoT ignores pdr anyway, i.e., if I deal 100k DoT on a snail, I'll also deal 100k DoT of the same skill on Empress.
When mobs are being affected by DoT, their HP bar doesn't look like they're being affected (because the red bit only shows you the damage you HIT on them). DoT does not kill a mob, rather, it leaves its hp just at 1. We're allowed to "stack" them up, as they add up.

Here's another explanation from the Skill distribution guide:
[quote=IImaplers] DoT stands for Damage Over Time. Most of F/Ps' crucial attacks come with DoT accompanying their regular attack. DoT does a set amount of damage (based on your range and based on the skill you're applying DoT with and the skill's level) every second for a set amount of seconds (depending on the skill). DoT of one skill can be combined with DOT of another skill. For example, for me: if I were to attack with Mist and it's DoT every second is about 120k (for me) damage and then attack with Paralyze and it's DoT every second is 70k damage, I would be seeing a combined damage of 190k every second. Quickly add in skills like Poison Breath, Fire Demon, Meteor, Big Bang, and that combined DoT can only get higher and higher! Isn't this an awesome way to attack? And the best thing is that DoT works on bosses too. Not only does DoT have the ability to work on any monster but DoT also ignores all defense of a monster. That means if you can do 300k combined DoT on a snail, you can also do 300k combined DoT on Pink Bean, regardless of the fact that Pink Bean has a lot more defense of regular weapon or magic attacks than the snail (though the snail would probably be dead before any DoT can be applied to it )![/quote]

For us, DoT is elemental based as well. Which elements you ask? Lets see...

[header2]Elements[/header2]
Our two elements, fire and poison (surprise, surprise) are our strengths as well as our weakness. Sad thing about this is elements don't matter anymore, unless you're in 2nd job training on fire or poison immune mobs, which in that case you should NOT be training in that area in the first place.
Most mobs in-game are neutral (not weak/strong against any element). Generally, undead mobs (e.g. Zombies) are immune/strong to poison - however in this game, there are always exceptions. Not to worry though, a certain 3rd job skill allows us to overcome any of that sort.
Attacking a element-weak mob gives you a bonus of x1.5, element strong will halve your damage, while you'll only hit 1 on immunes.

[header=4]Fire Poison Wizard[/header]
*Skills have an overall rating out of 10, with 10 being a must-get and max, 9 being very very very recommended, but if you don't want to get it it's your loss, and 1 does not exist.
[header2]Active[/header2]
[b]Fire Arrow[/b] (FA): Shoots fire against 3 enemies, 'pierces' through enemies and walls. Personally, this is my favourite 2nd job skill. 5/10
[b]Poison Breath[/b] (PB): Poison based skill, applies DoT. Has a "splash" effect. Your first DoT skill! Keep in mind that you will be using this skill in 4th job as well. 10/10
[b]Teleport[/b] (Tele): Your only mobility skill. Learning how to 'tele-cast' is quite useful against anything. 10/10

[header2]Passives[/header2]
[b]Spell Mastery[/b]: Increases your minimum range, allowing you to do more consistent "higher" output. Adds 30matk when maxed as well. This is the only mastery skill we get - which explains why we have very 'wide' ranges as other classes have another mastery skill in 4th job. 10/10
[b]High wisdom[/b]: Adds 40 int. Makes you more intelligent? 10/10
[b]MP eater[/b]: "Eats" MP from mobs. Partyplay (lhc) mobs and bosses does not count. It does not work on monsters without MP, or monsters that you already drained its MP. I find this skill very useless since Chaos, since it does not recover much of your MP anymore. 5/10.

[header2]Buff/Debuff[/header2]
[b]Meditation[/b] (Medi): Party skill. Adds 30matk. I like trees. 10/10
[b]Slow[/b]: Slows down mobs, including party-play and bosses. Quite nice to use on people in PvP. I love this skill, very useful in pre-bb as well. 10/10.

[header=5]Fire Poison Mage[/header]
[header2]Active[/header2]
[b]Explosion[/b] (Expo): A great fire AoE skill for 3rd job (well, for older standards). It is now mildy affected by weapon speed, however it's very negligible. 9/10
[b]Poison Mist[/b] (Mist): Ah... the F/ps' signature move. Some people know it as the 'fart'. This skill casts a green cloud around you, and poisons up to infinite mobs. Great map control skill - very strong in PvP. Takes a while for server lag for the mobs to be affected though. The cloud lasts for 40s, DoT lasts for 5s if the mob moves out from the cloud. This is a great map protecting skill - unless you have a super fast kser, however one way or another you'll still get exp somehow. The key to unlocking a certain 4th job skill. 10/10
[b]Fire Demon[/b] (FD): Fire-based, horizontal range. Hits up to 6 mobs while inflicting DoT. Your first fire DoT skill! You'll be using this in 4th job as well. It used to make mobs ice-weak while under the influence of DoT, then they changed it to being fire weak, then they completely removed it and moved it from 4th job to replace Elemental Composition. 9/10

[header2]Passives[/header2]
[b]Elemental Amplification[/b] (Amp): Increase the MP usage while applying more damage output. Does not affect your range. This is one of the skills where you gain most of your damage from. You have a high mana pool anyway, so no worries about running out of MP during these levels. 10/10
[b]Burning Magic[/b]: Increases DoT's time, increases damage when mobs are under status infliction such as DoT, stun, freeze, blind, etc. I find this more useful in bossing compared to mobbing, so this is not as important to max out early as Amp. 10/10
[b]Arcane Overdrive[/b] (ArO): Fancy name for a skill that just raises your %Crit. Minor 'glitch': it goes up to Lv22 with CO. 10/10

[header2]Buff/Debuff[/header2]
[b]Spell booster[/b]: Increases your [i]casting[/i] speed by 2 steps. 10/10
[*] [i]Note: Magcians (excluding BaM) are only affected by [b]casting[/b] speed, which is NOT the weapon speed listed on your staff/wand.[/i]
[b]Teleport Mastery[/b] (TMast): Passively adds more range to Tele. When toggled on, it attacks mob when you tele, with a chance to stun them. This allows you to go to the next level of telecasting, which adds DPS. 10/10
[b]Elemental Decrease[/b] (eDec): Neutralises your attacks. Basically this removes any elemental components of your attacks, meaning you can hit poison immune mobs with a poison skill, or hit fire-weak mobs with your normal damage with fire skills. 10/10
[b]Seal[/b]: Locks a mob so they can't cast a skill (does not affect partyplay/bosses). I quote Flenaris,"Seal and slow is just like bread and butter," Those two are counter parts of each other. However Seal is not very useful anymore - mobs easily die, moreover Seal does not activate with a 100% chance. 6/10

[header=6]Fire Poison Arch Mage[/header]
[header2]Actives[/header2]
[b]Paralyze[/b] (Para): Poison based skill, deals DoT, hits 6 times on up to 8 mobs. Your main attacking skill from now on. Originally this is called Medusa's eyes. 10/10
[b]Mist Eruption[/b] (ME): Passively increases Mist's DoT damage. After setting your Mists, using this skill will implode them and deal damage to mobs. The more DoT skills you added onto the mob beforehand, the higher the output of this skill will be. This is the main highlight of the 4th job skills, if you're unfunded, this is where you will gain most of your output from (for every 10 seconds or so) [b]with other skills contributing[/b]. 10/10
[b]Big Bang[/b] (BB): Fire-based charge skill, gives off the same amount of DoT regardless of your charge time. I quite like using this before I jump onto ropes/ladders, or when walking short distances. Even though it is not very useful, I quite like this skill. 7/10
[b]Meteor Shower[/b] (Meteo): The ultimate. It used to be cd-less, then they changed that bit. Gives fire DoT as well. Very big AoE, useful if you know when to use it. 7/10

[header2]Passives[/header2]
[b]Arcane Aim[/b] (AA): Allows you to ignore 20% pdr, increases your damage for 8% (stacks 5 times, hence 40% in total fully stacked). This is your only passive skill of 4th job, because we don't get any range-affecting mastery skill. 10/10

[header2]Buff/Debuff[/header2]
[b]Buff Master[/b]: Passively adds 30matk. Increases your buff duration by x1.5 when toggled [i]before[/i] casting buffs, undispellable (like MG). This skill made me feel that other classes' buff durations are too short. Also increases Echo of Hero's duration, provided you don't turn it off after it's casted. 10/10
[b]Infinity[/b] (Infi): Increases your damage, hp and mp by 10% every 4 seconds for 40 seconds. This is also affected by Buff Mastery, except that it's every 6s for 60s. This skill (along with extreme tele casting) saves me pots a lot of times. Timing could be quite essential with this skill. Very useful in PvP as well. 10/10
[b]Maple Warrior[/b] (MW): Increases 15% all stat for 15mins. Expensive mastery book, and Nova Warrior isn't as expensive as this, moreover KoC Warrior doesn't require a mastery book at all. I don't macro this with MG on my F/p, mostly because dispel will ruin my timing. 10/10 if you can afford it.
[b]Hero's Will[/b] (HW): Cures you from status effect like seduce. Does not work with potential lock nor stun. Very recommended to get if you plan on bossing. 9/10

[header=7]Hyper Skills[/header]
[header2]Passive stat enhancements[/header2]
I'll list out the ones that I would recommend to get, depending on your character.

If you have almost max speed/jump, like me:
[*] Hyper Intelligence
[*] Hyper Physical Guard (OR Hyper Luck)
[*] Hyper Magical Guard (OR Hyper Luck)
[*] Hyper Critical
[*] Hyper Heart Point
[*] Hyper Mana Point

If you don't have max speed/jump and you would want to move faster, swap Hyper Physical/Magical Guard for those instead. Other skills are quite unneeded for a magician.

[header2]Passive Skill Enhancements[/header2]
[quote=PSE]
Mist Reinforce - Increases Mist's damage. This is the initial hit of Mist, which is unpractical anyway.
Mist DoT Reinforce - Increases Mist's DoT damage.
Mist DoT Persist - Increases DoT duration on Mist. I'm still quite confused which part of Mist this affects. Still, not needed for us.

Para Reinforce - Increases Para's damage. Nice to have if you don't already cap on Para.
Para DoT Reinforce - Increase Para's DoT damage. Decent, but it's not prioritised if you have more important skills to acquire.
Para bonus attack - Para's attack count increases by 1. This is a must for everyone.

ME bonus attack - ME's attack count increases by 1. Not as important as Para, but it's better than Mist Reinforce/DoT Persist.
ME Ignore guard - ME's ignore pdr is increased. I would find this more useful after unlimited, or if you don't cap on ME still.
ME CD reduce - Reduces ME's cd by 5s. Depends on how you use it. Better to get this than Mist Reinforce/DoT Persist.[/quote]

[header2]Builds:[/header2]
[b]Pre-unlimited, caps on all skills.[/b]
[*] Para bonus attack.
[*] Para DoT reinforce.
[*] Mist DoT reinforce.
[*] ME bonus attack.
[*] ME CD reduce (or anything else really - ME won't be your source of output if you cap on Para)

You hit the damage cap on all skills, you only need an extra attack to Para for more dps, higher DoT so you'll get more DoT damage. ME isn't a priority, because Para's casting speed is faster than ME.

[b]Pre-unlimited, caps on only ME.[/b]
[*] Para bonus attack.
[*] Para reinforce.
[*] ME bonus attack.
[*] ME CD reduce.
[*] Anything of your choice (preferably one of the DoT reinforce)

Since you only hit the cap on ME, you'll have to increase Para's damage instead. ME is still potentially one of your outputs, hence increasing its bonus attack and reducing its CD. As much as DoT is quite needed for F/ps, we don't gain most of our dpm from it at this stage.

[b]Pre-unlimited, does not cap on any skill OR Post unlimited.[/b]
[*] Para bonus attack.
[*] Para reinforce.
[*] ME bonus attack.
[*] ME Ignore guard.
[*] ME CD reduce.

At this point, DoT is relatively negligible compared to other skills. All you need to do is to increase Para and ME's output to gain as much dps/dpm as you can.

[header2]Active skill enhancements[/header2]
You max all three.
[b]Megiddo Flame[/b] (Active skill): Fire based 1v1, hits 6 times with a 1 in 5 chance to attack again. Maximum damage cap of ~10mil while inflicting DoT. Ignores damage reflect and magic cancel. 90s CD.
[b]Fire Aura[/b] (Toggle/active skill): Fire based, hits once every ~3 seconds or so with a damage cap of 3mil on up to 15 mobs. Ignores damage reflect and magic cancel.
[b]Epic Adventure[/b] (Buff): Increases 10% of your damage while allowing you to hit 50k above the cap. Only affects adventurers. 120s cd.

[header=8]How to train a F/p[/header]
Well, I would just say you can use your skills to attack (duh). The only question now is, when do you use the right skills?

[header2]Wizard[/header2]
PB is the best skill to use when mobbing (6), compared to FA which hits 3 instead. Moreover it inflicts DoT on a mob, which makes training at Jesters at lower levels easier (assuming you don't mind the slight pot burn, which nobody does anymore). I still like to use FA to kill off leftover hp of the mob. Slow can be useful at these levels too, but if the mobs die easily, I wouldn't see a point in using it at this point in time.

[header2]Mage[/header2]
You should know how to use which skills when it comes to a map layout. For instance, in big maps like Mp3, I will use Mist, and Expo/TMast the remaining hp of the mobs while going in a circle. If I'm in a small map, I'll just stick to Expo and FD. If a kser comes, I'll start casting Mists around in spots that benefits the most out of Mist's range - you will eventually get a feel for it. If you find yourself burning pots a lot, maybe you can learn how to dodge using tele and slow.

[b]Mist Training[/b]
You may or may not have heard of this before. This training method is a lot more popular in the older days (mostly because everything was harder to kill back then), when accuracy affects almost everything... except for Mist. I don't think many people use this method to control multiple maps now.
In short, you Mist the whole map, go to the next map or channel (letting Mist do the damage), repeat, come back and kill the things off. Though I believe everybody would have enough damage on Mist's DoT to easily clear one map without the need to wait for 40s.
If you're in a popular training spot (Aliens), it'll be a bit stupid and rude to do so, especially doing it without asking permission of the initial player in the map, that will give the impression to other people that you're a kser. Even though other people killing the mobs will only gain 1 exp from that, if you're not in the same map, you won't gain any exp either.

[header2]Arch Mage[/header2]
Frankly, it's hard to put in words. Mostly you know things from experience. Best advice is I can tell you is to learn how to utilise the ranges of your skills. Timing is not exactly needed, but it comes in handy. Keep an eye on your buffs and get used to the habit of constantly keeping MG on. In LHC, you can move around the map while leaving Mist and stack up DoT, move onto the next platform (within ME's range) and stack DoT on that, then hit ME. I quite enjoy going in a small circle in a hurry and use ME right in the middle (and a Meteo before that). Keep in mind that I'm a F/p nut though.

[b]Mist Eruption[/b]
From time to time, I heard people saying,"If this skill is so good, why am I doing just this much?" It's either due to the fact that this and/or other skills aren't maxed, or you're just playing it wrong. Using this skill is simple enough - just lay a Mist there and implode it. However, to use it with your full potential, you need to use your other DoT skills. ME only uses 5 different DoT skill stacks: Mist, PB, FD, Para and BB is all you need. So basically it'll look like this:
Mist > PB/FD > FD/PB > Para (stack up AA a little) > BB > ME.
You can always time the number of uses of ME when using Infi and then use it at the last 4/6 seconds.

If you still don't understand what waffle I've been going on with, here's a quote from the Skill Distribution guide:
[quote=IImaplers]Passively, maxed Mist Eruption will raise Mist's DoT from 180% to 240%, a very good thing. Also, in a nutshell, the more different DoT attacks I use on a monster, the more damage I can do with Mist Eruption when exploding the mist and that monster is inside the mist cloud or very close to it. @Zenarkenstin explained Mist Eruption's effectiveness pretty well here:

@Zenarkenstin: The more "poison-like effects" (DoT) you have stacked, the more damage you will do with Eruption. If I just use mist (and it doesn't poison) and Erupt, I do around 50k (times 5 hits = 250k). But if I stack Paralyze, Poison Breath, Fire Demon, Big Bang, Meteor, Mist poisons, THEN Erupt; I'll be hitting 290-300ks (times 5 hits = 1,500k [1.5m])[/quote]

[b]Macros[/b]
MG by itself, MW by itself, Booster and Medi in 1, eDec/Magic Armour/Ifrit in 1. I generally cast 1 MG for every 2 Booster/Medi, so they won't run out. In my opinion, eDec/Amour/Ifrit isn't very important, so I cast that whenever.

[header=9]Equipment[/header]
[header2]Weapons - wands or staves?[/header2]
They have the same multiplier, so in the end it's not much of a difference. Choose the one that has higher base matk. Our casting speed is not affected by the weapon speed, though Expo used to be heavily based on weapon speed (Nexon knows why). Now it still is, but it's only by mere milliseconds that it's negligible.
We only use Elemental Wands/Staves 1, 2, 5 and 6 because they're either fire (red) or poison (purple).

[header2]Armour[/header2]
This part is quite hard for me to explain, as I never properly upgraded my equips (I skip around a lot), so please bear with my explanation.

I will classify three different 'types'/advices of amour into unfunded, average, and strong.

[b]Unfunded:[/b]
Stick to equips that you can only afford. At this stage, it's best to try and gain mesos and fuse/craft things to sell or use, and merch yourself up. Otherwise you can just play for fun.
Blue/Red sneakers (4%+ any stat is good enough)
Half earrings (6%+ is sellable)
Lv 33 mage Top/Bottom (female only)
Crafted belts
Take advantage of the profession system, make mules (cannoneers have a lot of inventory space) just to squeeze the most out of it. Always participate in events that could be helpful to you. Azwan is also a good place to farm for 60% armour/accessory scrolls - go with a party.

[b]Average[/b]
I find these people (and my old self) have:
[*]Flamekeeper cordon/Glitter gloves
[*]Purple Adventurer Cape
[*]Elemental wand 5/6, Reverse/Timeless staff/wand
[*]Lv98 overall
[*]Dragon tail equips (no weapon/cape)
[*]Any choice of accessories, usually crafted+pot
[*]Ester shield, maybe even VIP or Maple magician shield.

Overall, 50% int should be more than enough to be considered as 'average'. Personally I would avoid using 60% scrolls on an endgame staff/wand, but if you can't afford any other, go ahead (a mix and match selection of scrolls is also a good way to go).

[b]Strong[/b]
[i]Note: This isn't aimed at godly funded people, I'll assume that people who have that much potential would have enough knowledge to fund themselves with the right equipment.[/i]
I would say, go for the whole empress set (scrolled and cubed). You can also forget about the cape and staff and go for another kind of cape and use a Elemental staff 5 or 6. Aim for as much %int as you can, but having more than 100% is quite good (like I said, not godly funded). Scrolls used on your staff would preferably be GMs, or maybe even 20% pinks - you can always use other scrolls if you can't afford either of them.

Generally, scroll before you cube. It costs less that way. If you scroll a bad equipment, it tends to be cheaper for you to just buy another one and rescroll it. Also, make sure the item has a potential (if you plan to cube) before scrolling. You wouldn't want your equip to just disappear like that. If you're like me, you cube your items before you scroll them, you'll have to spend more on shielding wards/scrolls and such, and possibly innocents if your chaos went wrong (like my cape).

Try to keep a balance between matk and %int. If you have more matk, %int will boost your range more, and vice-versa. However if you plan to have, per say, 400%+int, I would recommend you to get +int instead (although matk isn't exactly bad in here) as it boosts up your range more.

[header2]What about decent skills?[/header2]
As they're named 'decent' skills, I find them decent. They're all nice to have, though switching your equips during boss runs just to cast them could get quite annoying (Imo, I find it better to have one equip with a 3l with int and another with the decent skill on it, rather than a mixed up equip - which may cost more to cube, I have no idea).
Decent Haste: It adds less speed than the normal one, I don't find it important to have this.
Decent Hyper Body: I personally have these on a nebulited pants, though they're more beneficial for my Marksman, who has lower survivability than my mages (MG helps a lot)
Decent Mystic Door: Could be useful at times, though you'll need to have at least 1 slot in your inventory for Magic Rocks.
Decent Sharp Eyes: Extra crit is always nice to have. This is my next decent skill I'm aiming for.
Decent Combat Orders: It's nice to have Lv31 skills I suppose, but not very important. This is better to get than Haste at least.
Decent Advanced Blessing: Adds m/atk, hp and mp. Go for it if you can afford it. Aiming to get this after I get dSE.
Decent Speed Infusion: Affects your casting speed by 1. Not much difference will be seen with Para, but I'd take this over dCO any day.

[header=10]Side bonuses[/header]
[header2]Character Cards[/header2]
Character cards can be accessed in your character selection screen on the top-right hand side. I would think that the Magical Storm set is the best option for a magician (+4/6/8/10% damage based off MP), it affects your range, therefore it affects DoT. You have plenty of classes to choose from, so I'll just list the ones that I will aim for, and some alternatives. Keep in mind that this is quite useful for mages in general (exception of Kanna).

[b]Magical Storm set (S)[/b]: Evan (SS), Luminous/Kanna (S), F/p (SS):
+8% MP added to damage. +700 HP and MP, 3matk, 3% boss. 70% chance to restore 8% MP, +40 int or 3% boss, 5% MP.
[b]Magical Storm set (S)[/b]: Luminous/Kanna (S), I/l (S), BaM/BW (S) :
+8% MP added to damage. +700 HP and MP, 3matk, 3% boss. +40 int or 3% boss, some range increasing thing, -4% damage when hit or some range increasing thing.

[i]*Keep in mind that this is what I would [b]aim[/b] for, what I currently do have is a S magician set, and an A warrior growth set. I use the "Feebo mode" training style too much .[/i]

Other cards that gives a nice boost:
Mechanic: +5/10/15/20% buff duration (stacks with buff mastery, basically you have a little more time on Infinity and cd-skills).
Marksman: 1/2/3/4% crit.
DemonSlayer: 1/2/3/4% abnormal status resistance (reduces chance to get sealed, poisoned, that sort of thing).
Dark Knight: 2/3/4/5% HP (Not exactly popular, I believe there are better alternatives).
Battle Mage: -2/-3/-4/-5% damage when hit.*

*This card is glitched at the moment, I heard.

To be honest, I only find the most useful character card is the Evan card. Every single mule I've trained on so far after getting an Evan used up less than 10 MP pots, if not none. The others are just nice bonus that I can gain. I'm also an extremely lazy person when it comes to training.
I will add in more when the 3 set effect comes to GMS.

[header2]Link Skills[/header2]
Link skills are small bonuses you can get from any new character designed since the Legends patch. You're able to 'link' them to your character only after reaching Lv70 (and a Lv2 version of that at Lv100 for Kanna only). For now in GMS (Hayato patch) we have:-
[*]Cannoneer: +15 all stats, +5% HP and MP.
[*]Mercedes: +10% experience, teleports you back to Elluel with a 30min cd.
[*]Demon Slayer: +10% boss damage.
[*]Phantom: +10% crit.
[*]Luminous: +10% PDR.
[*]Mihille: 100% stance for 80s - 180s cd.
[*]Kaiser: +10% HP
[*]Angelic Buster: 50% damage buff for 30s - 120s cd.
[*]Jett: Random stat bonuses that will change over time.
[*]Kanna: +5% damage (Lv1), +10% damage (Lv2). I believe this also affects your range.
[*]Hayato: +10 all stat +5 w/matk.

In the early levels, I wouldn't bother with link skills at all. You don't need more survivability, +10% exp is quite negligible (unless you plan to train in Aliens at Lv60 with HS and 2x or something crazy like that). However, when it comes to later levels (110+), it gets separated into two ways of prioritising.

[b]Training[/b]
1) Mercedes
2) Cannoneer, Kaiser
3) Kanna
4) Phantom, Hayato
5) Luminous, Angelic Buster

The ones that are not mentioned would be nice to have, but I don't think they're as useful as these five. Mercedes for the extra exp, Cannoneer/Kaiser for the extra survivability and stats, Kanna for the extra damage (so that you can kill mobs faster), Phantom for the crit which contributes to your damage as well as Hayato, and lastly Luminous that slightly helps you with your damage, while AB gives you bursts of damage (tbh, I'm out of my space for my keyboard when Hyper comes, so I don't need AB that much as it could be inconvenient to click on the skill).

[b]Bossing[/b]
1) Cannoneer, Kaiser
2) Demon Slayer, Mihille
3) Phantom
4) Kanna, Hayato
5) Luminous, Angelic Buster

Unless you plan to train with bossing, Mercedes won't be needed. Cannoneer and Kaiser used for the extra HP and MP, Mihille for 100% stance which is a very good thing to have. The rest are pretty much additional damage.

[header=11]Training spots[/header]
[header2]For the (extreme) secluded[/header2]
*Note, this is quite slow compared to the other version, but I doubt that much, if any people would come around to ks you. You may meet up with a botter or five occasionally.
Lv1~8/10 - Maple Island, Snails, Shrooms, Slimes and Mushrooms.

Lv8/10~20 - Preferably job quests you get, or just head straight to Pig Beach (Nautilus). I recommend to do Marbas' quest at Lv19, after doing so you get to Lv20 with 99.98%.
Lv20~30 Zombie skeletons (NLC), Zombie Lupins, Evil witches (Ellinia), anywhere in Victoria Island, Rock Munchers (Edelstein).

Lv30~40 Pepes (Mushking), Skeletons (Perion, not recommended as they're poison immune), Sentinels, Jr Kitties (Orbis)
Lv40~50 Kitties (Orbis), Ludibrium, White Fang (El Nath)
Lv50~60 Chryse quests - Mammoths, Eliza questline (+20 fame)... Orbis, Ludibrium, Korean Folk Town, Omega sector
Lv60~80 Ariant/Magatia, Tippos (near Boat Quay Town), Target dummies (Mu Lung)
Lv80~90 Ludi, uh... Dreamy ghosts in Mushroom Shrine? Galloperas (Kampung, near Singapore)
Lv90~100 Ludi Clocktower, Leafre, Capt/Krus (Herb Town - Expo works great here)

Lv100~110 Ellin forest, Ludi Clocktower
Lv110~150 Papulatus, Leafre, Temple of Time. Only go to LHC if you have a party of 4+
Lv150~160 Temple of Time
Lv160~200 Have fun in Future Henesys

[*]Don't forget about PQs and storyline dungeons!

[header2]Rushing to 200[/header2]
Lv1~10 Maple Island
Lv10~30 Zombie Skeletons
Lv30~40 Scarecrows (NLC)
Lv40~65 Jesters (NLC)
Lv65~110+ Aliens (NLC)
Lv110~170 LHC
Lv170~200 SH

[header2]Feebo mode[/header2]
Become a quest maniac. Train wherever you feel like.

[header=12]Bossing[/header]
[header2]Telecasting?[/header2]
As you get into higher levels, you may want to start bossing (for equips or exp). Depending on your ping and computer speed, you may want to telecast in-between Para's delay. I.e., you hold onto the "Up" key the whole time and cast Para and spam tele (while having TMast toggled on), then back to Para without any delay. This easily increases your dps. You can also tele back and forth if you want to dodge things as well.
Also, keep in mind that Slow affects bosses as well, which comes in very handy. It's like pinning a boss without attacking it.

[header2]Recommended bosses[/header2]
[b]Solo[/b]
[*] Please keep in mind that this varies a lot on your range. If you're at the right level but you have a low-ish range (10k), it'll be fairly hard to solo, if not impossible. However if you're, lets say, Lv130 with 50k+ range, it might be possible to solo Zakum (never tried).
Lv130~150+ Zakum, Hilla (beware of DR)
Lv160~180+ Horntail
Lv180+ Cygnus summons*, Arkarium*
(Root Abyss bosses varies on your range. Go in as soon as you can).

[b]Party[/b]
[*] This now depends on your party's range. Preferably bring in a Bishop in Horntail or cZak.
Lv100+ RA.
Lv130~140+ Zakum, Hilla
Lv150~170+ Horntail, cZak, cHT, Arkarium**
Lv170+ Pink Bean, Arkarium
Lv180+ Cygnus (summons), Magnus

*You need enough (high) damage output/control for these bosses to be able to finish the run.
**Depends if you're the only magic attacker in there to kill his summons, you may need a higher range.

[b]Dojo[/b]
Go in whenever you feel confident. If you don't succeed, fiddle around with your equips then retry it. Knowing the speed/delay/output of your skills help quite a lot.

[header=13]Acknowledgements[/header]
Me, for writing this guide.
@Ouhai for recommending more alternative 'secluded' training spots.
@Business for recommending "Character card/Link skills" section.
@StrangeFate for recommending "What to expect from a F/p" section, and giving me the idea of "How to train a F/p".

[header]Conclusion[/header]
PM me if you have anymore questions, or just leave a comment below! Don't forget to leave feedback and perhaps summit a suggestion to MrB?