First World Problems: Astrals Equipped:

[GingerTheHutt]

ok so I'm a level 47 mage and struggling to decide what to chose as my 5th Astral, for when I hit level 50.

So this is what I have currently equipped:



My current thinking for my 5th slot is either Enhanced Deflection or Enhanced Regeneration. However I can't decide which I think is better.

So this is where you come in:

which would you chose? and why?

or have I missed something really basic and should I have something else instead?

Here are my stats as is, so you can see a bit more about me, to assist in your deliberations...

[CreamySaucepan]

Go nekkid... you're enough of a freak as it is...

[GingerTheHutt]

Go nekkid... you're enough of a freak as it is...

Peeps don't need to see my weapon... It's classified... For your eyes only...

[CreamySaucepan]

Peeps don't need to see my weapon... It's classified... For your eyes only...

Then why are you holding on to your staff the entire time? :P ok, one astral to hide said weapon. For the rest: nekkid does it! Scare the opponents into submission!

[GingerTheHutt]

ok, one astral to hide said weapon.

Just one? o.O

um...

I don't want my weapon to get damaged... O.o

um...

MOAR defence!

[KnowingEyes7]

I'd go with regeneration based on the choice. You want sustenance over decay. This helps more in many facets of the game. However, if you choose the other, proc rate for both seemingly is the same based on empirical evidence.

[GingerTheHutt]

I'd go with regeneration based on the choice.

You have a third or fourth suggestion to add to the mix?

You want sustenance over decay. This helps more in many facets of the game. However, if you choose the other, proc rate for both seemingly is the same based on empirical evidence.

Yeah I think that's the way I'm swinging currently. However... I really wanna see the WB take a few mil damage as it's attack bounces... ^_^

[AlexandrusS5]

yeah, but that bouncing back damage doesn't count for you, so its dead gold/daru that no one gets, all in all, not worth it in the long run

[ceecee_s13]

If your happy with your mdef (and personally i'm never happy with my defense) i'd go guardian angel astral. my mage is crit'ed against alot and guardian angel helps reduce the chance. illusion is also a really good choice. i love seeing that 1 damage instead of 5k and actually know someone who has managed to live through the wb mass attack because their illusion astral worked all 4 times

[ElusionM]

My opinion on Deflection;
1. If you reflect a lot of damage, odds are you're weaker and going to die anyways
2. If you reflect a little damage, odds are you're stronger and going to win anyways
3. Evenly matched - You're probably better with another astral.
Same could be said for regeneration I guess.

Since you have neglected to choose Mdef as an obvious choice, I would suggest Charm to help boost troops for fights against Archers and Warriors.
Outside that I would consider Illusion or Guardian angel.

[AlexandrusS5]

Charm is a highly situational astral, only good in a few situations. Illusion still fires off enough to be useful as well

[ElusionM]

Indeed it is, but adding 3k health to troops would/could keep warriors and archers busy for 1-2 turns. Being mage we don't give a **** about their troops they're nothing to us.
I'd suggest getting crit astrals too ^^ Increased crit rate at world boss makes getting Determination up and Snipers up worth it. A lot more DPS

[bladewarior]

based on both astral observations and its something i havent read anywhere the amount healed from regen astral is small but the deflect one theres a kick and if someone confirm my observations plz do so i think deflect dmg is based on the dmg before defens and dmg reduce kicks in so raw dmg cause im using a 60% deflect one wich deflects full dmg done on me when it procs

[R26312419]

Having an extra MDEF astral in your bag is a good idea even if used only when you attack other mages in solo arena. A crit mage build is not really an option in my opinion, I tried with stats over yours and I was too fragile in 50-59 pvp to make it work. I will try again later in my character development. As far as deflection astrals goes, please don't use it on a regular basis against WB. If might be fun to watch it go a couple times, but you are not credited for the damage you deal and the WB still loses hp. Everybody on the server loses.

In the end, just like in other aspects of this game, there is little room for experimentation. There is a reason why everybody uses the same astrals: it is the best combination and anything else will make you weaker than comparable players with the mainstream astral build. For a level 50 mage, these astrals are: MATK, WD, PDEF, MDEF, GB. Other useful astrals in certain situation are: charm and illusion (serious nerf with last patch). Guardian Angel has proven useless in my experimentation with it at -25% crit chance. Some people also use block, but as with crit at level 50 you need to compromise your main stats too much to get a decent block build, so I would advise to wait until later in game.

[GingerTheHutt]

yeah, but that bouncing back damage doesn't count for you, so its dead gold/daru that no one gets, all in all, not worth it in the long run

True... I know that. But still... It's a nice pipe dream about big numbers... ^_^

If your happy with your mdef (and personally i'm never happy with my defense) i'd go guardian angel astral. my mage is crit'ed against alot and guardian angel helps reduce the chance. illusion is also a really good choice. i love seeing that 1 damage instead of 5k and actually know someone who has managed to live through the wb mass attack because their illusion astral worked all 4 times

I have 8MDEF gems, so for now I'm happy with it. I had an MDEF astral - but I swapped it out for the blessing. MDEF is only useful vs 1/3rd of the population / catacombs - I have completed catacombs and don't intend to do much with it as blitz doesn't need it. The Damage reduction is useful vs everything.

My opinion on Deflection;
1. If you reflect a lot of damage, odds are you're weaker and going to die anyways
2. If you reflect a little damage, odds are you're stronger and going to win anyways
3. Evenly matched - You're probably better with another astral.
Same could be said for regeneration I guess.

Since you have neglected to choose Mdef as an obvious choice, I would suggest Charm to help boost troops for fights against Archers and Warriors.
Outside that I would consider Illusion or Guardian angel.

I hadn't considered it from that point of view. I view guardian angel as a later game astral... maybe for level 60 or 70. hmmm. Food for thought.

Illusion still fires off enough to be useful as well

Yeah illusion is another one that popped up. Not sold on it though.

Indeed it is, but adding 3k health to troops would/could keep warriors and archers busy for 1-2 turns. Being mage we don't give a **** about their troops they're nothing to us.
I'd suggest getting crit astrals too ^^ Increased crit rate at world boss makes getting Determination up and Snipers up worth it. A lot more DPS

I'll be swapping to a crit build at some point. Depends I guess on how I feel about when.

You really need two astral slots to make it work properly, so I guess one of those slots could be Will Destroyer out. so a crit build is a possible once I hit 50 legendary gear....

based on both astral observations and its something i havent read anywhere the amount healed from regen astral is small but the deflect one theres a kick and if someone confirm my observations plz do so i think deflect dmg is based on the dmg before defens and dmg reduce kicks in so raw dmg cause im using a 60% deflect one wich deflects full dmg done on me when it procs

They both proc at 10% chance.

The regen heals up to 5k HP based on damage dealt. The deflect reflects upto 50k damage based on damage taken.

Given the comments above by EllusionM - I'm now not sold on either...

hmmm...