First World Problems: Astrals Equipped:

[GingerTheHutt]

Definetly go for M def,

You should be going with MDEF

so 9500 MDEF at level 49, with a full lvl 50 legendary set looming - putting my MDEF in the region of 11k at lvl 50 is not enough?

I only know two mages at my level with enough MATK to break that MDEF. One of them is myself.

[R27381437]

You should be going with MDEF unless you want to lose to every mage you fight who is equally geared as you. Every mage should have Matk, Will Destroyer (unless you're a crazy crit person), pdef and mdef astrals. The rest are just too low of proc rate or too situational to be a priority over those.

Regeneration sucks, sub-par proc rate and the healing rate is incorrect on the astral as well (Level 5 says heals 50%, but on a lightning bolt it will only heal 20-25% of damage done for example).

[WickedSilk]

If I'm not mistaken, OP said that he already cleared the crypt, so MDEF isn't an issue there, as Necro levels where he might go for now are limited (and almost fully require PDEF).

And for PvP - I really don't know what it's like to fight mages from a mages perspective. What you say makes sense, but as OP said, approximately 1/3 of the population are mages, and other astrals affect all classes.

[Mitashki]

Definetly go for M def, very good in crypt where u will need all the M def u can get vs eyes... all mages will make you ragequit without M def.

I'm lvl 61 now and i have destroyer, m atk, m def, p def, godess blessing and now im toying around with block since i didnt get yellow HP astral yet.

I want HP since suntoria is what makes the difference in mage vs mage where u have close to equal BR.. whoever heals more usually wins.

So forget about anything else but M def, if u dont care about pvp than u will need it in crypt believe me.

[GingerTheHutt]

As an archer who recently leveled to 60, I faced a similar problem. For me, the solution was simple, as I need MDEF, PDEF, Crit, Crit Damage, Blessing and PATK. Let me just comment a bit on the options you've got, and some pros and cons as I see them.

1. Block
A solid choice for all classes, but due to the questionable formula this is usually ignored. If you like showing off, this is one of those that give a lot of BR, while actually helping in the meantime. This was my second choice (1st was the Blessing).

Some earlier comments talked me out of deflection and regen.

I have kept the regen astral for a later date though.

The recent fixing of illusion no longer makes it such a good thing in my opinion. It's good. Just not as good as it was.

So going with the bit I quoted - I already have a blessing... so that's another vote for block... ^_^

[WickedSilk]

As an archer who recently leveled to 60, I faced a similar problem. For me, the solution was simple, as I need MDEF, PDEF, Crit, Crit Damage, Blessing and PATK. Let me just comment a bit on the options you've got, and some pros and cons as I see them.

1. Block
A solid choice for all classes, but due to the questionable formula this is usually ignored. If you like showing off, this is one of those that give a lot of BR, while actually helping in the meantime. This was my second choice (1st was the Blessing).
2. Illusion
Really nice when it works and saves your skin, but perhaps this would suit someone with less defensive/more offensive astrals better (because it blocks damage regardless of the amount). Consider it if you're doing a crit build (but then maybe toss the PDEF and get some DEF gems). Also, would probably stack badly with block.
3. MDEF
The standard choice for mages, but as I see it, you are pretty good for your level. Meaning, you can probably beat mages of your level (and a few levels above that) and building defense against them isn't your main problem.
4. Regeneration
A solid astral, but I never put much faith in it, even though it could help in some places (for example, it could automatically refill your health on lvl 59 in the BG if you'll be stronger than your opponents). Don't count on it much in the Spire. Mages do have more AoE than archers, so this could even be a solid choice for some events, but I'm not sure.
5. Deflection
Perhaps not the happiest choice, as you don't have enough HP and the total deflection you get per life isn't really much. However, again, I'd keep it somewhere, hidden, for a few reasons. Only the damage reflected against the boss in the final attack doesn't return as cash. The rest does, even though it's just a few hundred gold per boss fight. Also, places such as the Ward tower in GBs still damage themselves quite a lot (this could be why the ward tower attacks only once for a final attack).

TL, DR: Illusion and Deflection are fun. Block and MDEF give BR. Regeneration astrals mean sustain in long battles.

[GingerTheHutt]

ginger noob.....ur forgetting a basic...mdef, become a mage thats hated by other mages cuz of ur mdef.....

I want to be hated by everyone. Not just mages.

[R23209055]

ginger noob.....ur forgetting a basic...mdef, become a mage thats hated by other mages cuz of ur mdef.....

[GingerTheHutt]

Ok, so I'm now sat at level 48 and 99%.

A little over 1 level to go and I come back to this.

Current thinking is:

As I turn 50 - I'll hope to have a full Legend lvl 50 PvE set pretty soon after. Which opens up an extra 8 slots for me to play with.

Now I have been playing a little with crit around the WB. I don't want to go full crit build just yet. I don't have the slots spare just yet.

I have been toying with Block. It's my front runner at the moment. I reckon I can total up somewhere around 2k block with little effort: a level 6 block astral, and 8 level 5 block gems.

I've had HP suggested - but with 28k HP and a level 6 goddess blessing - I don't see any point to more HP. I'll gain enough from the legendary gear itself and the refinements.




Any further thoughts from the forum lurkers?

[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...

[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.

[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

[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

[AlexandrusS5]

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

[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.