I'm about to turn level 30 and get 2nd job advancement, but I'm wondering what skill should I learn first from an Ice/Thunder Mage. Should I first aim for meditation to further strengthen my magic claw damage?
Max your attacks first. I'd reccomend ligthning first, then ice.
It depends on the mesos you have. In general, if you can buy a steady supply of potions, I would choose lightning, which drains your potions due to high MP pots, but also provides faster leveling. Ice saves mesos, with an okay leveling rate. It's faster than lightning at the beginning but slows down after a while. Some people, like me, choose to max meditation after their first attack, while others choose to max the attack they missed...
So you really could choose any of the following routes:
Ice > Lightning > Meditation
Ice > Meditation > Lightning
Lightning > Ice > Meditation
Lightning > Meditation > Ice
Med is not useful later on, according to most high level wizards of IDB. If you want greater damage than claw, go for ice, trainning spot may be crowd(Actually all but fire/poison mages have crowd trainning places...) but the monsters you hunt are generous and have good drops(*gazes at steelies, glass shoes, evil wings*).
But lightning mages hunt a more generous kind of monster---crabs in beach.... Those crabs are fast, hard to avoid and hit really hard. Even with Magic Guard you may need alot of hp pots and MORE mp pots.
If you think you can get a lot of drops then go for lightning. If you want stable income choose ice.
OK, I finished the test, and now changed job. Put 1 point in Drain MP.
What is more important by the way, Drain MP or Slow? I find Drain MP a waste when further upgraded though. The MP of the stronger opponents are just at around 150-200. As for slow, I don't know how much they are slowed when maxed so I'm not sure if I should still work on it or not.
*pokes resources sticky* The forums at sleepywood.net have lots of guides, but I don't know how good the mage ones are, as I'm not a mage.
I'm pretty sure Ice/Lit mages don't need slow; you already can freeze monsters in their place with yout Ice skill.
I'm considering putting points on Slow over MP Eater. MP Eater, to me, really doesn't seem like a very useful skill. However, Slow could help friends when partying, and also allow me to fight bosses with greater ease (where freezing fails) and use Thunderspear against lightning weak monsters. I'll still have time to make my decision, but I think I'll stick by it.
Slow does not slow attacks, only movement, so it isn't that great. Max teleport, however, is a must-have for any mage.
And Jacobyts, being a level 65 Ice/Lightning mage myself, I have to say this. Choose what you want.
Ice mages tend to be a bit richer, but lightning mages level much faster, especially once you get to Lorangs... I went Ice first, and it was really slow, but I had a lot of mesos as a result.
MP Eater is great. I only know from my Beta Cleric, but I loved the way you can keep both HP and MP up.
I definitely loved having a point in MP Eater from level 31, I used my first point for Teleport for PQ, and knew I would use it through level 30. I rose my Lit to level 15, and now I'm going to raise my Med to max, then max Ice. I don't really need to get Lit to Max since it feels like I take a hit or so more from enemies I'm killing with lit. I agree with previous posts that guides aren't always right for you, and you should enjoy your game. Happy Mapling
