"But, Sir! INT-STR might work someday!"

I know it's morning or night for many, but good afternoon, fellas!

So, straight to the point, Magic Crit (henceforth referred to as MCR) is kind of useless by default, ain't I right?
Mages can't do nothing without party (or tank, at the very least), ain't I right?
And mages are over-depending on Finale, AIN'T I RIGHT, FELLAS?

But, what if I tell you that if we have at least 25 MCR, the whole thing might not be that useless anymore? That's if we don't focus on getting CDMG like how we've been doing with physical DPS.
What if I tell you that you CAN solo with mage?
What if I tell you that you CAN choose to be not Finale-dependant mage?

Well then, brace yourselves! Here in my mind, I have a serious talk for you. A no more than hypothetical thought, but is not quite far-fetched! This is the thought of building an INT-STR Mage without, I repeat, WITHOUT Knuckles sub. What to use as sub, then? Well arrow, of course!

It will use Magic Burst a lot, it will have full physical crit rate, it will have higher stability IF you decide to use Paralysis Shot lvl 10, and it will use Snipe too! Lastly, it COULD solo. Yes, it could. Truly depends on your capabilities and the boss you are facing, but theoretically it could, okay.

Here are what you need to try realising this hypothetical build, that's doable as per 26th of May:

• Getting at least 100 Critical without spending too much on CRT. (Equip Curious Dress, FC with Accuracy negatives, that Additional with 20 Crit and 5% MATK, or do whatever you wish as long as you get 100 Crit.)
• Getting Snipe lvl 10 for a tiny bit more DPS. (But the real thing we want from Snipe is the 70% Armour Break rate! It's highly useful for high-def bosses. Don't hesitate to add Smoke shot with Save tag in combo. For the oldie 'no graze' thing.)
• Getting lvl 5 or higher Meikyo Shisui. (Use this before Snipe. Don't worry about MP, fam. Maximizer will be a friend you can trust. Most of the time, at least.)
• Getting non-crit, oldie boring fully magical gears. (Because just in case. Sometimes you will need to go full Finale because you have party, because the boss doesn't move a lot, because 50% of the boss' def is higher than your current MATK. Tl;dr you will need it when you need to go full Finale.

These here are what you need but aren't currently doable:

• Getting full INT-STR for more ATK and MATK. (STR adds more stability to staff, too. Your Finale won't waver too much, don't you think, hey Finale enthusiasts?)
• Without lessening your MATK; getting better Crit Rate for more Magic Crit—henceforth referred to as MCR. (25 MCR is good and all for magic, but 50 or more would be better, won't it?)

You see just how overwhelmingly absurd it is, right? But, I don't think it would stay that way for too long! Just keep this in mind: you are a mage, and Physical Attacks, Snipe especially, are nothing but secondary thing.

Why would you need to get physical ATK again? Listen here. I will list Finale mages' weaknesses that have overtaken their advantages in fights against many, far too many, bosses. Think carefully, thoroughly, and objectively, okay.

1. Vulnerability in Casting
Huge HP might indeed helpful to you as you receive many attacks. But, what if the attack cancels your Finale? Oh, my! Half of your full MP would be gone without getting anything back! Except annoyance, that is!

2. Mobs Infestation
Yes, mobs infestation. In skirmishes with Mini-Bosses, you often attracted unwanted attentions. It magic-flinched you, or tumbled you, or just being annoying in general. It obviously kills your DPS by a lot. By a lot I mean A LOT, okay. Because DPS is Damage Per Second, not Damage Per Strike. Your total damage divided by the battle time, that is what's shown in "Attacker" Ranking Screen after boss fight. Even if you have 5k MATK, for example, you won't stand a chance if you can't attack. Thus, it becomes a weakness to mage.

You can say Magic Javelin will solve the problem, but is it? Using Javelin means using your MP and using MP means using resources to cast more Finale. Let's say you have 2k MP, you use 1k for first Finale and failed because of Mobs Infestation. Then you use 200-400 MP, sometimes 600 MP, to kill the mobs. Afterwards, you will always need to recover the MP, right? It needs 3 seconds to get back all the lost MP (-100 if you need 600 MP to kill the mobs), it also needs 3-7 seconds for you to kill the mobs. Isn't that a lot of time? While physical attacks won't always decrease the time needed to kill the mobs, it will at least recover your MP when you are at it. Not using it. While it won't recover more than 500 MP from killing the mobs, AMPR will still be useful for you won't recover full 2k MP per Maximiser. See, even with the Finale mindset, it can be a bit better. Then now, what if we just use Magic Burst to sweep the mobs AND damaging the boss all in one go? It's a lot better, then! Isn't it?

3. Simply Missing
Yes, simply missing. Magic can't miss, yes, but AOE can. Especially Finale with its long cast time and its small AOE. Yes, it's huge I know, but the huge radius damage is weak. The huge damage radius is overwhelming tiny, and that's a huge disadvantage. Imagine you face a run-a-lot mini boss, with annoying minions around, and your party can't hold aggro (Wandering Wheel, Dusk Machina, yeah). What say you? My two pence? You, in that condition, are pretty much useless.

That might not be all of Mage's weaknesses. But, let's be real here. I am a mage too, I know the struggle. It starts to feel really hard after the latest nerf, right? Finale, or most of its parts, died. Though for me, even before that, the struggles are real.

For a long time I was wondering about how to overcome these weaknesses. Until one day I was thinking that maybe Magic Burst would be able to get solid damage, like getting 80% of Finale damage in 6 seconds. But it was a fail. Relying on Magic Burst is currently impossible. If we have 1k CSPD, then we need to use 4 magic skills before casting Burst to decrease the cast time to instant. With 3, it would need 1 sec, which is still slow. Kind of. And even then, the proration will be ruined already. Thus making Burst's low damage even lower.

So I came with this thinking. I thought to make an INT-STR mage with Snipe as secondary, Magic Burst as main, and Finale as another main for some stagnant bosses like Venena (or something with less dangerous meteor). I went to speak to my friend Larsa (now Shirotsuka Chie) and we got into deep discussion and voila, we got the idea solidified! In the next free skill reset that hopefully will happen, we will try to do this.

Though this still is a premature hypothesis, I know it would work. If not now, maybe next month or after that. I know that the Snipe damage would not reach even the damage of Bow's Snipe. But hey, this is a mage. This is not the old hybrid fu(s), this is a fresh, genuine new idea. This could work.

But, what do you think? Drop your thoughts here, if you don't mind!

 

Just delete your mage or reset to a physical class. Doing so much brainstorming and investment for a half-assed build is not worth it. Magic crit is a joke, the amount of spina investment required just to make burst deal respectable damage compared to other tier4 is ridiculous. Even knux users can deal better damage at a much lower spina cost.

If not then be stubborn like me:
--Become so much more tanky, HP+resistance even more than pure tanks that almost no blue aoes can kill you, and with that keep using finale.
--It's not like burst cant miss if the boss randomly teleports behind you right before casting. If flinched just let out a rage scream and continue casting
--Never farm mini bosses so that random mobs can be avoided.

If all that fails then,
--Hope that the community and the developers realize that knux is not the weakest class, its mages.
Lastly theres also option to uninstall the game which I do pretty often too.

 

If that's what you think then OK.
If you can be stubborn with your mage, then I can be stubborn with what I am trying to do, right. If it is not today, then maybe tomorrow. Mage is the weakest today, but it was not less than half a year ago. So what? Not every OP skill stays OP. It can happen otherwise.

Everyone has choices to do things they want to and is free to do so. Like how you chose to delete your guides (which was very useful and very much appreciated) because "damn everyone I am rage-quitting."

 

Just for your information, the investment for this is less than what a pure, finale-only mage needs.

Well, your thoughts are appreciated. I know it's hard to work it out today, but it might happen tomorrow. Nobody knows.

Also, it's worth every damn if you can enjoy whatever build you use.

 

Try meikyo before using magic. You'll be surprised how seldom it will hit critical. Many have tried it, yet due to disappointment, they just kept silent about that build. Be stubborn. Try it for yourself. ^_^

 

I only deleted 1 guide which is tome of defense, rest all were deleted by my partner. I had well good reasons for doing it too, none of the people seemed interested in that guide which made me self doubt if it was because of me not being able to make them interesting to read or if its just not good enough as a source of information. In the end I realized I am not cut out for making guides, no one cares about defensive stats anyway, its all about skill lists and dps. This game is trash anyway it doesnt deserve well made guides.

No one is stopping you to build whatever. The fact remains that staff mage has become the most useless class in the game.
You asked for people's thoughts and I gave you my thoughts, burst mage at least how it is currently can never surpass finale. Hope suzuki shares the similar sentiment and can finally make a revamp that matters and can increase the utility of that skill.

 

If you use 1h/MD you could use punish ray before magic skills for an extra 100 crit rate ^^ then of course you wouldn’t get the extra power from using staff but critting would be much more consistent. Not sure if it would make up for the loss in power though. But anyway great thoughts! It’s never bad to be creative and try out new things!

 

Ah, it seems I have invoked quite a bit of misunderstanding.

This is my aim:
Not to crit in magic, but to prorate well, deliver damage consistently even if not it is not a stable, and while I am at it, I will also do some passable physical damage. Maybe 100k-200k. Having 25 MCR is a bonus. Consider it like Whack or something. When I say "Get more MATK" and "Remember, you are a mage" means DO NOT rely on Critical Damage.

 

Well it was useful. I referred to your guide a lot. Kind of disappointed when I saw it gone. I am not referring to that skill lists nor to that offence book. I am referring to that very Defense thing you mentioned and yes I am staying with my claim, it was useful and I very much appreciated it, okay.

about Burst surpassing Finale, you said it way before the buff and the nerf that it's impossible. So I knew it already. Like I said earlier in the top post, "I tried to get 80% of Finale damage in 6 seconds using Burst and to no avail" which means I knew that already
And yes, staff is the goddamned weakling now that I am trying to do something less Finale-y and instead do some more enjoyable thing with this new guy. If it stays strong like half a year ago, then I won't bother

 

No, no, I don't want to make Magic Crit build because it is useless as mayam said. I want to make a mage that's less Finale, more Burst. But pure Burst is impossible (as stated above), so I was thinking of making something else that's not pure Burst but not too Finale-y

 

Then its viable if you want to self prorate well. Back in the days when long combo was a thing, I use long physical ending with storm or vice versa using physical skill. I read somewhere that asobimo is making long combo a thing again, increasing the damage. ^_^

 

Yeah, I hope it's not a bogus update again because if it is, then goodbye magehood

 

I will just ignore the Finale mages can solo thing, okay. Because unless it has full ailment resistance, pretty sure nobody can do it enjoyably.

I will just move on to the gear thing. Here is the point: to get that element stuffs, you also need millions.

Let's be real here. Assuming all the 6 elements staves are +B with Shampy in it, it would cost 3m or so. Or even more, right? That's for 1 staff. Times 6, it is 18m. How about the staff you need to battle neutral bosses? Add 1 more 2m-3m. Now that's almost the same as 1 +S 2 slots staff. The damage? Not much difference.

Now if you say you are using all +S elemental staves, then add 30m-60m. It would indeed increases a lot of damage. Well not that alot but still much. One thing to highlight, isn't your words about mages should not need to spend much contradicts itself, though?

 

I'm gonna have to side with the burger man here. Finale mages can solo, but you have to time your attacks much more carefully. Usually if you wait for the boss to use an attack thay has a long animation, you can get direct hits pretty easy. You may sometimes have to replace smite with swift to hit the boss before they move, but it's a lot better to get a direct hit with swift rather than an indirect hit with smite.

Even though finale mages aren't the best for soloing, this could change after Asobimo rebalances "almost all" of the magic skills.

 

Alright, 2 vs 1, my claim might be wrong then. But I have justified backing for my claim.

Last time I tried soloing, I can barely did it. My mage has 20k HP, 3600 MATK. I soloed Altoblepas from 172 to 176. Used Finale, Burst, Wall, and Storm because when I only used Finale, it was slower. Then I tried it on Mithurna Lynx, bogus, and so I moved to Bubble Bogey. Again, barely did it.

At 181 (current level) I tried soloing Pikach*. But it moves a lot and attacks a lot. So I stopped fiddling with mage and just do the Knuckles thing.

So, yeah. Finale can solo, on select bosses only.

 

They can just simply make burst like storm with some buff it will deal decent dmg or just make finale with perfect aim

 

I guess that would be perfect. If Finale always hit like every non-AOE single target skills, it would cover everything. It would be pretty damn balanced, yeah. For the Finale, that is.

 

So you already capped int, got 180 vit 200 STR, and finally thinking of Dex? What are you smoking? I want some of that too.

Such a sad life you have there