Strongest Single Target Mage DPS Skill?

Based on these criteria:
1) Spamability
2) Damage per second

Is it Magic Arrows or Magic Lances?

I need either as a skill to compliment a build I'm working on... I checked the thread of the skill tree listing but what I'm looking for here is experienced answers.

 

In my experience Magic Arrows has more potential as a DPS skill than Magic Lances because it hits faster than Lances (altho it hits more times).
I once tried a tamer build just spamming arrows and supporting the pet. It was pretty decent. The only thing that made me abandon it was the time and effort required to raise a great pet.
You also eliminate the ailment chance so you won't have to rethink your strategy against reactive-ailment bosses.

 

Have you tried smiting magic arrows? How well does that work?

Like does it ever go above 5k per hit?

 

IIRC the most dmg I did with smited Magic arrows was 15k ish per tick.

 

Lances is stronger than Arrows.
but for Lances you also pay mp for the Stop ailment, making Arrows more cost efficient.

Arrows are also stronger with a Magic Device
Lances have the same damage potential with both weapons, just slightly higher stop chance with MD.

 

Well with about the same damage potential and the only difference being stop, the choice seems pretty obvious, thanks!

 

You could use both at the same time.

 

Limited skill points but not a bad idea...

 

If you have some other skill points on a skill that isn't quite as necessary, you could just redirect them towards arrows or lances.

 

Ironically, a pet's magic lance can be more powerfull than a player's magic lance due to the sheer over stat of the pet and attack pattern to boost it.(mochelo is the prime pet for dps) only drawback is that it only hit once and dont have status ailment even when the pet is using an md as a weapon. For pets md and staves are basically the same.

 

wait for nemesis