Mage Leveling Guide and tips

[Noleafclover]

A few mage tips:
*many of these tend toward the min-maxing end, so if that's not your playstyle you may not be interested*
*I've used IFF to mean if and only if, this tends to be a sign a min-maxing tip is coming up*
*unless noted, every tip refers to soloing*

-Oh yeah, I spose I should put this first. Generally, don't use anything but fire pet solo. If you're somewhere you need earth, you are probably better off moving. We just don't do well with adds and you're nerfing yourself.

-And oh yeah, another obvious one that belongs second. Don't nuke, except for either your lv. 1 or lv. 4 nuke. Advantage of your lv. 1 nuke - less aggro. Advantage of your level 4 nuke - 7 more damage for the same mana and cast time. Generally, lv. 4 nuke is slightly better.
The reason you use one of these per mob is to gain full experience for each kill (otherwise your pet "eats" 75% of it)

-And oh yea, there's no reason other than chain-summoning to dismiss your pet instead of reclaiming it.

-Oh, if the pet will live a while, get a max level pet. However, you may want to, instead of burning mana casting summon repeatedly at the very start of your night, use most of the pets health killing a mob or three while you med.

-And oh yeah, lapis luzili is 12 and 16, malachite is 4 + 8 and 20-49 (correct me if I'm wrong, pretty sure)

-For any class, IFF you plan on raiding, put stat points into stamina first, and the remainder into your class's stat (here Int). To compensate for raid mobs' relative lack of health, many AE. Later, you will find it extremely easy to maximize int, and will focus on +hp and +mana items.

-If you wait until a med tick to cast pet heal the first time, then cast it within the first second or two after it refreshes, you should get all your med ticks for the fight (and continuing after the fight if you continue to heal up before engaging another).

-Mage pets dual wield at 24 with weapons and 39 (ONLY MAX LV PET) without. A great place for pet info (skills and how to tell whether your pet is max level) is the P99 companion's fire pet chart.
Or if you prefer to keep a reference sheet or word/notepad doc, the corresponding levels are : 4 - 6 ; 8 - 9 ; 12 - 13 ; 16 - 17 ; 20 - 20 ; 24 - 23 ; 29 - 26 ; 34 - 29 ; 39 - 33 ; 44 - 37 ; 49 - 41
and the corresponding formulas are - proc = level + 1 (although chart shows something different for lv. 34 pet only) and shield = level + 2.
Also, a quick and easy way to remember the levels is 4 = caster +2 (anomaly), 8-16 (first 3 spell levels) caster +1, 20 (anna molly) = caster, 24-34 (next 3 spell levels) = prev. + 3, 39-49 (next 3 spell levels) = prev. + 4.

-At lv. 20 and through your early 20s until it becomes tedious, try to stick to the level 8 heal IFF you're following my rule about waiting on a med tick to begin your healing cycle.
The lv. 20 heal is mana-inefficient for the entire duration of it's use compared to the lv. 8, but this is eventually overtaken by the facts that - a) lv. 8 pet heal becomes a pain to use shortly after, or simply doesn't keep up and b) you are more likely to miss med ticks.
(At lv. 20, you're getting 1.5 healing for 1 mana, vs. 2 to 1. Over time you're looking at saving 1 of every 4 mana by using lv. 8 pet heal, extra missed med ticks aside... lv. 21 the 20 is 1.52 to 1, etc.)

-It's debated when chain-summoning pets becomes preferable to heals, but most say lv. 39. Chain-summoning WILL lower your pet's dps at 39, and at any other time between 24 and then because of the lack of dual wield. However, your pet has at 39 a substantial amount of HP that makes up for this fact (by making it mana-inefficient to heal. note that all pets post 20 cost 200 mana except for the lv. 24 pets) by reducing your med time or allowing you to toss in real nukes.


-IFF you have a torch it can be good between 16 and 24 to dismiss and resummon a near-death pet post battle (not quite chain-summoning) since weapons do nothing for your pet.
Either take this tactic frequently, or not at all because if you take it only occasionally, you lose max level pet for a little mana-efficiency.

-Whether you are chain-summoning or just using this method, if you can toss a pet one heal (or the mob one nuke) to keep it alive and then reclaim it post-combat, you're in the black on mana.

-When you begin chain-summoning at 39, occasionally use the above method when the opportunity presents itself - close fight between pet and mob.

-Nuking really doesn't speed up your kill rate. Frequently you'll find yourself with excess mana because of this fact. Practice your abjuration, if you solo a lot (I didn't and at 49 I've spent about 4 hours semi-afk practicing to get my abj to 140). Possibly your divination. Summon yourself levi rings to move faster and with more ease. Summon dimensional holes, and mod rods for friends or just random people in the zone.

-For chain-summoning, I carry a 10-slot filled with malachite. But yeah, that's a little excessive.

-When you're chaining, run away from the fight. This way you can chain a pet without having to cast too early and waste his health- you have time for the mob to reach you. It's doable, for ex., at seafuries or spectres, to get a pet well under 1 bubble every time he is dismissed.

-Your lv. 16 and 20 pets, as well as some other spells, are sold only in OoT. Many useful summons are sold only in Ak'anon or Erudin Library. Your lv. 24, 34, and 49 fire pets, are research only (as well as lv. 49 air and, if you want it due to foci, lv. 49 water). This is pretty much the breakdown.

MORE NEWBIE-ORIENTED TIPS:

-When you travel to OoT for your lv. 16 and 20 pets, bring enough money for spells. Alllllll the spells you want from OoT (look at the companion's list). It's quite a trip, thank me later. If money is tough, I've heard you can get a lv. 10 rabid grizzly bear in Qeynos hills every 7 min (outside timer) for a 10p quest turnin. I also recommend selling CB belts, and gargoyles in OoT (believe doable @ lv. 16, on heresay) who drop a 10p eye about 1/3 the time. While you're here, you may want to go directly across from sister isle (out from the dock) to the oracle's spawn spot and check if it's up. If he is, he'll be wearing the robe, and you may be able to find a sympathetic high lv. mage killing seafuries nearby who will run over and kill it for you. 200p (its value in ec) isn't all that much to someone killing seafuries, esp. considering time selling it. Your spells are sold at the island you will hit if you turn right from the docks. Careful of cyclops.

-re: gearing up for those whose first char this is. First of all, make sure you have handmade backpacks (or large sewing kits, if you're especially weak - they weigh .04) for your non-summoned spots. You're not that gear dependent, although it is nice to have a twink mage to be able to go afk and come back with enough mana for 2 yellows (bubbles).
But -
If (when) you buy jewelcrafted items, check the p99 companion jewelcrafting tradeskill drop down. The price list will help you not get rooked. Allow the jewelers a markup, since jewelcrafting is expensive to raise, but remember that this is most likely a trivial combine for them, and that you are new so while not ENTITLED to charity, able to find people who are sympathetic and get a good deal. In that vein, buy the 7str/7int necklace for 250 or so. Carry more loot and get more int. Yeayea.
Evil eyes in Gorge of King Xorbb drop a 3int bracer. Should be easy enough @ 29. Same for WK Ogres (less sure on this) who drop 5int earrings. Same for focus items in najena (I don't recommend going earlier, since max HP is only helpful in tight spots unless you're chain summoning, and najena can get shady). Savant's cap (3int) and the 20mana bracers should be easily attainable at 29 if you see unrest fireplace open. Gatorscale sleeves drop at ancient crocodile (doable @ 34? 29? idk) in UGuk, and many times people will have an excess amount of these since it is the common drop, and you can get them for as low as 100p or even free (btw, alllll these numbers don't reflect market value). At 34, priest of Najena in unrest drops a key turned in for (eventually) mystic cloak - 5int 5svm cloak.