Defender Mage Build (Min. lv. 140)

Overview: Sword n Shield is rather a well known defender type and Knuckles are already famous in breaker position. But one that can be effectively handled in both, here I present to you a new Tank and Breaker Mage build (*claps claps claps*). As a Mage, it is utilised with high MP advantage and effective casting skill, but you won’t have fancy defence stats or guard rate like other tanker. Instead, you must be active while tanking the boss: dodging, blocking, breaking attack and recover yourself. This build is flexible depend on your skill/combo used, so it should be entertained to mess with and effective against most boss (high stun resist boss will be your enemy). Also, the build use both magic and physic skill to balance the proration, it should have minimal effect on both physical and magic damage in your team.

Requirements: Total HP minimum of 20k, Total MP minimum of 1.5k, reach enough SP for main build

Stats

Spoiler: Stats

VIT 200 > INT 100 > MTL 125 > VIT/MTL (rest)

Once your VIT reach 200, u need to boost around 4k-6k HP from equipments to reach 20k HP total. INT is for decent MDEF. Put more into MTL if you worry about status ailment/stun but VIT also good for survivability.

Skills

Spoiler: Skill Build (182 - 270 SP)

Note:
Skill build ordered by most important skill first, so spend skill point in order shown
A Warning: You will not have enough SP to finish everything in this build (the main build already has high SP demand), plan ahead to choose spare SP for your preferred skill.
* Reach minimum level of this skill. Spend SP to this skill only when main skill build finished
** Optional skill, you won’t have enough SP to spend so pick carefully.

Spoiler: Magic skills (52 - 55SP)

Magic: Arrows 5
Magic: Javelin 5
Magic: Lances 5
Magic: Impact 7-10*
------
MP Charge 10
Chain Cast 5
Power Wave 5
Maximiser 10​

As a staff user, impact do 75% tumble chance at lvl 7 and boss cannot evade (still can block). Half next skill’s MP cost make it perfect in save combo. Be aware this is AoE skill (both useful and annoying for some miniboss)
MP Charge is required to manually recover MP. Fast for staff and high MP recover in/outside battle. This is dangerous to use at low MP and HP so prepare ahead of time.

Spoiler: Survival skills (15 – 25 SP)

Safe Rest 5
HP Boost 10
------
Play Dead 0-10**​

I don’t recommend Play Dead, but it might be useful for 1 hit kill boss or you focus on MP more than HP.

Spoiler: Shield skills (35 - 55 SP)

Shield Mastery 5
Shield Bash 10
Force Shield 0-10*
Magic Shield 0-10*
------
Protection 5
Aegis 5
Guardian 10​

Shield Bash is another breaker skill, this will go to combo.
Guardian is required for aggro stealing and guard buff.

Spoiler: Support skills (25 - 35 SP)

Mini Heal 5
Recovery 10
Sanctuary 10
------
First Aid 0-10**​

Recovery 10 is important to against status ailment (most dangerous ones are Ignite and Mana Explosion, also help with Poison and Sleep). Return 1 MP bar at level 10 upon successful recovery.
Sanctuary reduce the low damage since you lack of passive defence.
First Aid 10 is useful when your teammate focus DPS and lack of defence.

Spoiler: Martial Skills (10 SP)

Smash 10​

The only thing u need here is the 75% chance flinch, another good breaker skill to the combo.

Spoiler: Knight skills (25 - 30 SP)

Assault attack 5
Parry 5
P. Defense 10
------
Provoke 5-10*​

Assault attack is useful to chase against high mobility boss. Note that skill range is 6m.
At 20k HP, P. Defense give maximum heal 2k HP per block. This is main spamming skill to tank boss.
Provoke 10 cost only 2 MP bar, highly recommended to steal aggro as a mage.

Spoiler: Shot skills (20 - 30 SP)

Shot mastery 5
Long range 5
Quick Draw 10
Decoy Shot 0-10**​

Quick Draw is highly essential to continue your combo/defend. For 20 MP bar, it gives extra 6-10 MP bar as average.
Spend SP on decoy if you want more MP regen. during battle.

Spoiler: Sword skills (0 - 11 SP)

Sword Mastery 0-5**
Quick Slash 0-5**
War Cry 0-1**​

War Cry used for group aggro, useful in masskill.

Spoiler: Guard Skills (0 - 20 SP)

Heavy Armor 0-10**
Advance Guard 0-10**​

If you want to invest more in guard type, try to get Advance Guard to lvl 10 first.

Spoiler: Battle skills (0 - 10 SP)

Defense UP 0-10**​

Even at character lvl 180 and level 10 skill, each Defense UP and Defense Mastery only gives 45 DEF and 45 MDEF. It’s not worth to invest more SP here.

Combo/Shortcut

Spoiler: Combo/Shortcut

Stun lead (longer combo):

Shield Bash > Magic: Impact (Save) > Guardian (Cons) > Smash (Swift) [100 MP | 6 CP]​

Flinch lead (shorter combo):

Smash > Magic: Impact (Save) > Sanctuary (Swift) [100MP | 4 CP]​

For player use extra Decoy Shot for MP bonus, use combo:

Assault attack > Magic: Impact (Save) > Decoy Shot (Swift) [100 MP | 4 CP]​

Mixed combo to Stun lead for Decoy player (even longer combo):

Shield Bash > Magic: Impact (Save) > Guardian (Cons) > Decoy Shot (Cons) [100 MP | 6 CP]​

For player use WarCry for group aggro, use combo:

Assault attack > Magic: Impact (Save) > WarCry (Swift) [100 MP | 4 CP]​

Mixed combo to Stun lead for WarCry player (slightly longer combo):

Shield Bash > WarCry (Save) > Magic: Impact (Save) > Guardian (Swift) [100 MP | 6 CP]​

Mixed combo for both WarCry and DeCoy:

Assault attack/Shield Bash > WarCry (Save) > Magic: Impact (Save) > Decoy Shot (Swift) > P. Defense [100 | 7 CP]​

Must have P. defense at main shortcut. Assault Attack or Provoke are also recommended for main shortcut.
Use stun lead combo first to activate the Guardian or Stun target. Spam Flinch lead combo in mix of P. defense to continue breaking.
Spamming combo do help keep up your aggro, but pay attention to boss movement pattern. Use provoke first if team generate higher aggro.

Equipment/Crysta

Spoiler: Equipments and Crysta

Focus on extra HP, MP and resistance bonus. If equipment has small reduce aggro, you can try Provoke skill for substitute.

Staff:

Vulcan Staff +1000 HP and 24% Magical resistance (BS)
Luminous Mushroom Staff +3000 HP and very bad -20% aggro (Boss drop)

Preferred xtal: Pillar golem > Ultimate Machina or any HP/MP boost​

Shield:

Zahhak Shield +10% HP (BS)
Phalanx +20% Aggro
Dark General’s Shield +30% Aggro (Boss drop)
Shampy Doll + 1500 HP (Boss drop)
….​

Armor:

Lil Empress Grab +500 MP +25% Magical and Physical resistance (Boss drop)/ has bad -15% Aggro
Jermiah Mail +1000 HP +10% Magical and Physical resistance (BS)
Mozt Armor +2000 HP +20% Neutral resistance (Boss drop)/ has bad -40% Dark resistance
Oni Grab +10% HP +20% Neutral resistance (BS)

Preferred xtal: Boss Roga > Iconos > Ornlarf​

Additional:

Holy Knight Loin Guard +2000 HP (BS)
Finpen Mask +30% HP +20% Anticipate(BS)/ ideal for breaker and tank but bad -60% Wind resistance
Nurethoth Mask +60% HP (Boss drop)/ bad -30% Ailment resistance and -15% motion speed
Snowman Head +3000 HP (BS)
Teacup Hat +3000 HP (BS)
….

Preferred xtal: Dusk Machina or any HP/MP boost​

Special gear:

Magician’s Ring +1000MP (BS)
Stamina Talisman +500MP +8 VIT (BS)
Toughness Bangle +20% HP +10% Aggro (Normal mob drop)
Machina Ring +300MP but cheapest 2 slots on consignment board (Boss drop)

Preferred xtal: Crystal Titan or Venena or any HP/MP boost​

Please leave any extra suggestion as you like.

Special thanks to game developers for their generous free skill reset.

Also thanks to Red_Fox, Jackazz, ⠀⠀⠀, Aka Kuro, Yunan for all opening suggestion

 

i dont think mage need decoy or quickdraw because already hv mp charge and maximizer, and auto atk mage always miss so decoy is useless for mage also smash too is consider as physical skill that mage always miss so its useless, instead take javelin to lvl 10 for flinch using normal staff(non element) .
and maybe u can take heal to lvl 10 for healing/first aid the fallen party member from far.
and take provoke to lvl10, or warcry for multiple mini boss aggro.
to be honest im not recomend mage for tank because lack of accuracy for phsycal and auto atk, and theres no 100 crit staff. but thats just my opinion.
sorry my english is bad

 

you only get 75%
must have skill level 10 for 100%

 

Is it just me, or does the INT serve absolutely no purpose in this build?

 

Smash is 75% chance if no knuckles. If boss evade, that's what anticipate stats is good for. Also boss drop evade depend on their action, normally when moving during cast.
Javelin is bad for both mp cost and cast time. While u can spam the smash combo to keep boost up aggro.
Heal also has high mp cost and smaller time reduction than First Aid. The power charge time also a problem to keep recast this skill. It would be more useful of main support than main tank.
Warcry is actually good for masskill, but have that 11 SP I'll put as optional.

Still only need lvl 7 imo, since spam skill is fast and you have more than 1 interrupt skill in the combo. But do need the detail fixed xD.

INT is for MDEF base, most tank have DEF from VIT which makes magic attack from boss hit really hard.

 

Uhm, Y not use cooking and potion to replace some vit? should be able to reach 16k hp without vit. Then, u cn go full mtl and spam finale

 

You can put more stats to MTL if you really want, but it's not like all status ailment is necessary bad to against. VIT also boost DEF and I don't recommend spam finale. It has high aggro, but nerfed too much with MP cost and slow cast. The AoE attack from finale is also bad with miniboss.

 

But isn't it a defender build so better to gain aggro quick? Dmg is enough if Full mtl Rest int most caaes, of course without guardian if pt. But true that def will be lower so cover it with cooking, although i used physical resistance up. Also, good to do some dmg with magic poration

 

It's not gaining aggro quick if casting is slow with that mp cost and the risk is too high when you cannot tank during the cast. And for damage, it's better to do main tank and leave the job to team DPS. Tbh, most DPS mages just ask tank to keep the boss steady, you can't even use your finale to aggro against other finale.

 

i say miss not evade, anticipate is for evasion not hit(accuracy), im not talking about about ailment chance, even its 100% flinch chance if always miss its useless.
for mage is better use javelin lvl 10.
and dont put in combo, just use it manualy for interupt boss aoe.
mage always miss when use phsycal skill.
trust me i am already try it, even my dex is above 100, physcal skill always miss on mage.

 

You can use finale to instantly gain aggro in one go if you somehow loses the aggro, provoke spam wont help much since it also has a rather slow animation time, cant be put in combo, and its not affected by aggro gears. While finale is not the best to maintain aggro, it should be worth to get, finale does get affected by aggro gears so you will outaggro dps finale mages

You can also take meikyo shisui to boost your crit by +40, with base crit, 65 crit isnt that bad. You can put it as a combo ender and it also produces a non-proration aggro since its a buff skill, if you use vulcan shield you will get an extra 12 crit so you would have 77 crit

Also for the ring, guidance lantern or dark fighter's bangle should be good since it has +25% aggro. Another thing is, twin head dragon talisman doesnt make you immune to those ailments, it makes you unable to inflict those ailments to enemies.

Regarding INT, if you already have 250 Mdef and doesn't use berserk, its not worth to get, 250 mdef is 20% magic damage reduction, beyond that you wont get a significant amount of damage reduction

 

I still have to say javelin has no real practical use. It does flinch for mage but: you have to stay next to boss as tank, must be steady on cast, does it always necessary to cancel boss attack instead of blocking(P. defense 1 MP)?
Physical damage DO work for mage. It based on boss pattern, example: Boss Roga always evade when standing still or after cast, but get hit while moving; Venena get hits whenever start to cast a skill; ....
Also I never get to worry about getting the interruption skill always working, since I can just cast again.

I can understand why you want the finale to boost that aggro but can you gives combo or any example that can either cost lower MP or faster total cast time than Provoke? Cause even when you got the aggro, you consumed a lot of MP for another break and defence skills.

 

Of course, things will be good if enough dps and better to focus on tank in such case. But that is not a must especially in international server. Second, if u use provoke b4 finale cast, it is good enough. Also, i got heal so not very likely to have problem if get hit. If u got mages in pt , it is true that better to do provoke rather than finale. However, i prefer finale if rest members are melee and situation is allowed.

Tbh, if u get finale with mtl int, then ur mage can be a useful dps also when battle is messy

 

Here is a combo that is much better than provoke spam:
1mp Opener>warcry(save)>impact (cons) >decoy shot(swift) >p. Def
1100 base aggro, 900 party aggro, affected by aggro gears, the cast time is about the same as 2x provoke, if you have 50% aggro from gears you would have 1650 aggro, 1350 party aggro. If p. Def procs you will have an extra 500 party aggro with only 1mp bar of cost. Not only it targets the whole party's mobs you can also cast it anytime if you have at least 1mp bar, decoy's bug will also recovers 1mp, so you have the net cost of 0 mp.

In finale's case, in a scenario where you lose aggro. Provoke isnt effective because you cant go more than 1000 aggro per cast, the aggro per activation is more valuable in the situation where you nees to steal aggro. For example when you got resurrected you will find it hard to get back the aggro even when theoretically you should have a good amount of aggro, the reason is the aggro per second of provoke spam is actually not that great. With finale, it has 1600 base aggro, with 50% aggro gears you will have 2400 aggro in practically, a fraction of second, its the best aps you could possibly have, its not the greatest to use frequently since it has slow cast time and on the long run, the total aggro isnt better than provoke spam.

Regarding mp cost, just use save tagged finale something like:
1mp opener> finale(save) >sanctuary(swift)>guardian(smite)
Thats 1mp bar
The purpose here isnt to maintain aggro, but to steal aggro

Also with physical skill, evasion=/=miss
Physical skills depended on HIT, the FLEE of the enemy, and most importantly, critical rate for them to hit the enemy. Without extra crit, you WILL struggle to hit the enemy. I dont know about that sure-hit mechanism from boss patterns that youre talking about but you generally will miss your physical attacks, which renders skills like smash or bash ineffective. Interruota should be done at right place at the right time. Hence the need of reliability instead of the need of re-cast, which also cost more mp. Javelin is great for the flinch, but it also serves another purpose, thats to give a specific ailment using elemental weapons. Flinch might be needed for bosses that moves around so much, or to interrupt a dangerous attack before it actually lands, for example, p. Avatar's garyou. Sure you can p. Def them all, but sometimes its better to interrupt before it happens since you might misstime your p. Def

 

The provoke is not used for spam (wait did I mention it in the list as spam?), instead the combo for keeping up aggro decoy/guardian/warcry already shown. I can add this combine warcry and decoy combo to the list.

Now it's when you use Provoke to steal the aggro instead of Finale.

 

Oh I didn't know about that, thats terrific then

 

1000 aggro is not great in tanking realm, you know? Once your aggro got stolen its considerably harder to get the aggro back, 1000aggro each cast is simply not enough.

All in all mage tank isnt the best as a tank imo, as you dont have reliable interrupts and normal attacks the advantages are that u can mp charge+maximizer from anywhere and anytime you want and the finale to steal aggro. Provoke sucks big time