STR Mage v3
Some time ago, I made my first guide ever and posted it on these Magician boards. The topic was about my STR Mage, a character I made while extremely bored of my Cleric. The guide was very imcomplete, as my character was only level 24 at the time. To make things even better, I didn't have a clear view of where I wanted my character to go. On one hand I wanted to be a poison wizard, but on the other hand I never added anything to the INT stat. After a while, I decided that I would just go STR Mage, and not worry about using any magic attacks.
After that topic was deleted thanks to the random HS deletion problem, I made a second topic with my STR Mage being level 30. I showed all the stats she had, and what I was planning on doing with her. Things such as equips and damages were included, and I also managed to squeeze in a few reasons on why you should become a STR Mage. Sadly, that topic was also deleted thanks to the same reason the above deletion suffered. So here I am, hopefully with the last and final STR Mage topic. This topic was made to not only show you what my character is capable of, but to also give you a different point of view other than the "STR Mages are pointless" comments.
I'll make you want to create a STR Mage, one way or another.
Table of Contents
1) Why I became a STR Mage
2) Why should you become a STR Mage
a) Pros
b) Cons
3) STR Mages in a nutshell
4) Stat Builds
a) Warrior Buildb) Hybrid Buildc) Everything and Anything
5) Leveling
a) Training locationsb) Overcoming the pain
6) Skill booklet
a) My bookb) Ver.Ac) Ver.Bd) Ver.C
Why I became a STR Mage
There were a lot of events that led up to me choosing this type of class. At first, I created a new female account that I planned on using to make some more mule accounts in Scania. At first, I thought I was gonna end up making another serious character, most likely a warrior or mage. How the heck I ended up making a Mage that kept up with all four stats is beyond me, but I *did* try to do it. I made a topic on the mage boards about it and everything, partly because I just wanted to ask people how it might turn out. I named my character the "Screwed up Mage," because I did the exact opposite of what the guides told you to do.
Things like maxing both claw & bolt, getting armor instead of guard, and not even touching increasing max MP were some of my workings. But sometime around level 16, I realized I was doing a very stupid experiment that was most likely going to fail. So I create another new character with a STR Mage in mind. I had always liked Uber-Beginners, but I never had the patience for them. I thought, "Hey, maybe this class'll be kinda like the Uber-Beginner class, but fun." At around level 24 is when I made my first topic about my mage, and man was I happy to tell people I had such a character.
Why you should become a STR Mage
Why would you? Because you want to play a unpopular take on a very popular class. You won't be a part of the majority, but you'll create your own minority. It's a class you can say "Wow" at when you see it in action. Unlike beginners, STR Mage do NOT have STR weapons of the same calibur as Beginners. This creates a harder task of making an effective character, while following your own style and not the style of everyone else. Think about all the attention you'll get in MS when you enter your first PQ, and you just start meleeing. You'll suprise a whole lot of people, and you'll get a bunch of praise. Even the higher leveled characters'll commend you on your mage, even if it's around level 32. Now those are some pretty good reasons to choose this class.
.-:-.Pros.-:-.
-+- Alternate path that is used very little
-+- Benefits of a melee character with the benefits of buff-type skills like teleport and magic armor
-+- Lots of attention from fellow maplers
-+- Turns lots of heads
-+- Free fame/mesos are expected
-+- No need to worry about buying expensive mage equipment
.-:-.Cons.-:-.
--- Hard leveling in the earlier stages
--- Defames/noobs trying to belittle you expected
--- Not really a normal path, therefore you are bound to encounter problems
--- Attack suffers unless you buy the more expensive common weapons
--- Lots of patience needed
I'd say that the pros weigh out the cons, but by only a small bit. There could be more reasons, but I can't really think of them at the moment.
STR Mages in a nutshell
For this section, I'll use my STR Mage, GreenMidori, as an example. Please note that my character is only level 32, so my views could change over time.
Basically, STR Mages are beginners that sacrificed their buffed weapons for solo-skills. Things such as magic armor and magic guard are big helps when you want to fight something that you normally couldn't fight with the health of a beginner. Combined with the 2nd job skills, STR Mages become very nice to play after you've expanded your skill range to a certain degree. Depending on what 2nd job path you took, you can slow your enemies and kill them before they can ever touch you, and you can teleport-melee enemies and eliminate the KS factor usually gained when you choose a melee class. You can heal yourself of the damage you've taken, you can cast invincible to further decrease the damage you take, or you can bless yourself with the popular-party skill gained in the cleric path.
So by sacrificing your godly beginner weapons, you gain a class that is much more durable than your average uber-beginner. But you also suffer the exp % loss that other classes suffer when you die. If you go the strictly melee build, you'll be losing 10% everytime you bite the dust, which means training could become a whole lot more stressful. If your looking for a class where you can do great damage and be an individual, go uber-beginner. If your looking for a class that can take damage and throw down some buffing skills, go STR mage.
My character, GreenMidori, is currently a f/p STR Mage. When people think of STR Mages, they usually think of the cleric path. However, I felt that I did not want to do something so expected. Instead, I wanted to try out the f/p path to see what advantages I could dig up going this way. The first thing I've noticed, is that you gain access to slow. Slow could be one of the best skills in the game, as it assures the user that monsters will NOT get away from you, and that you can escape just incase the situation gets a little dangerous. Combined with your meleeing and teleport, it's almost as if you'll never suffer a death. These three things make up one of the most deadly combinations you can think of, and by going f/p, you allow yourself to tap into that power.
STR Mages take patience to train. When you first start out, you'll find leveling to be easy. But around level 14 is when you'll notice that your leveling pretty slowly. Combined with the fact that your minimum damage is almost always going to be 1, you'll find frustrating moments daily. This class isn't for the player who wants to find quick success, it's for those who want to find fame and a character to be proud of when you get to the higher levels. Once you get around level 27, is the time that your character becomes a lot easier to level, mostly because your damage has evened out with other melee classes, and you have access to the first PQ. Now don't get me wrong, you WILL be getting outdamaged from here on, it'll just be easier to kill monsters, thus it'll be easier to level.
This is also one of those classes that you can showoff, but in a funny way. Usually when somebody sees a beginner thats around level 30, you'll know then and there that this character is special. But with your class, people'll think that your character is a regular mage. If you do something to give yourself away while training though, you'll find a lot of suprised faces in the game. I remember how I was training in henesys somewhere, and this high leveled hermit came up and told me I sucked. So naturally, I tried to defend myself by showing my true colors. I used magic guard, magic armor, casted slow, and tele-melee'd the enemy I was attacking at the time. The hermit apologized, and told me I was awesome for having such a character. He gave me a Maple Soul Singer, and a mage glove I obviously couldn't equip. He told me to keep at it, and I'd eventually have a very popular character.
Little things like that makes playing this class worth it. Not only do I find a crowd of people interested in how I do what I do, but I find the task of leveling this character to be so much more fun than that of a normal character. I've tried becoming a super-beginner, but I could never get anything with that class. I've tried giving my level 55 cleric a chance, but he bores me to death whenever I try to do something interesting with him. This is the only class where I've truely felt like I have just started playing Maplestory all over again, and that I could do whatever I wanted to do with this character without feeling like I suck. It's sort of like the first character I ever made in MS. I had no clue what I was doing, which made this game so much more fun than what it was.
Stat Builds
The following builds have been made my me and nobody else. There was no outside influence involved when I made these, and I have found the first build to be the most effective. If you want a variety of opinions/builds, then this is not the place to look.
My stats
.-:-.Warrior Build.-:-.
With this stat build, your focus is to create a character that will solely use meleeing to destroy its enemies, and have buff-type skills that could assist you in your journey.
When you first create your character, try and get your LUK stat to 4. That is your only worry, as that'll be the only stat you won't touch during your character's life. Everything else can be whatever you want, although it really doesn't matter. You'll eventually have to put points into all three skills, so having points in them already isn't something to frowm about.
So now that your character is on Maple Island, your goal is to get your INT to 20. After you've completed that goal, try and get your STR above 30 before you get to level 8. If that isn't possible, just get it as high as you can. The INT is to get your character to pass the magician entrance exam, and the STR is to give you a good start once your off the island. You don't need to worry about your DEX, as the monsters you'll be fighting have very low avoidability.
Once your level 8, your going to want to change your build to look something like "+3 STR, +2 DEX" everytime you level. Around level thirty you should have about 50 DEX, so you can mold that build to your liking if you wish. There isn't really a predefined path you should take as you level, just make sure you have 50 DEX by the time your around levels 25-30. If you end up getting 50 DEX in the twenties, you can cap it off there until you reach 30. The extra DEX during the 20's is to help you successfully complete PQs, which'll be your main source of exp during those levels.
When you get to level thirty, start pumping three into DEX and two into STR whenever you level. The monsters you'll be facing have great amounts of avoid, and I'm sure you don't want to be left in the dust when it comes to keeping up with the other warriors.
.-:-.Hybrid Build.-:-.
This build is for those who really don't want powerful strikes, but also doesn't really want powerful magic. A sort of an in between build, this is for those who wants to experience everything you possibly can in a magician. Before I start this one, please note that your damage and accuracy will suffer greatly. You'll be able to us both magic and melee, but not too effectively. This is a hard build to stick with, so only attempt if you have the patience and you REALLY want to do this build.
Just like the previous build, get your INT to 20, then get your STR to 20. Once you've become a magician, you'll want to add 2 points to INT, two points to STR, and one point to DEX everytime you level. What makes this build hard is that you'll have to settle for weaker monsters with small avoidability numbers. Once you get to level 20, you'll want to shift your points to be "3 INT, 2 DEX" until about level 25. You can continue this build until level thirth aswell, if you want to assure yourself that your magic and accuracy doesn't suffer too much. Once you've reached thirty, you'll want to be "3 STR, 1 DEX, 1 INT" for a good while. I'd say about level 40 would be the time where you go back you your first stat build, but you can experiment around.
.-:-.Everything and Anything.-:-.
This build is stupid. The only reason you'd do this is because your extremly bored, or your purposely trying to screw up a character. This is mainly here to make sure that you *don't* follow this path, but I'm sure somebodies gonna attempt this build one way or another.
Basically, raise every stat in your freaking arsenal. Get your INT to 20, then just raise every stat by 5 every time you level. For instance, put five into STR at level 7, 5 into DEX at level 8, 5 into LUK at level 9, and 5 into INT at level 10. This build is very stupid, and could lead to another useless mule character. If your feeling even more like a fool, you can add HP and MP to the mix. Please, don't use this build.
Leveling
.-:-.Training Locations.-:-.
Lvl 1-8: Maple Island - This place'll be your friend for a good while, and so will the snails.
Lvl 8-13: The tree that grew - Slimes can fair game at this time, because your magic can OHKO, and your STR is still high enough to handle them man-to-man.
Lvl 14-17: HHG - You'll be fighting orange mushies at this level, so get comfortable with the KSing and the annoying Henesys music.
Lvl 18-21: HHG, Pig Beach, Tree Dungeon - This is where your options start to open up. Either you can go kill green mushes, or you can go pay the ribbon pigs a visit. If your DEX is higher than what it should be, you could also try and fight horny mushes.
22-30: PQ - This is the best place for you to be, no lie. Everything else'll bore you out of your mind, and the PQ is fast experience no matter what your level is. I suggest you not be the leader to the PQ, as your members will leave you once they see your a STR Mage. when your a member, they'll attempt to rush with you more often, because they don't want to find another member and risk missing a PQ.
30-35: Terrace Hall, The Burnt Land, Ant Tunnel - At this point, you should know what you can and cannot kill. Brown Teddies could probably be the best exp source for you right now, so make a trip to Terrace Hall. If you get bored of that place, you could always venture back to the classic ant tunnel, or you could try your strength against the fire boars.
After level 35, you should be knowledgeable enough to find your own training locations. Let it be know that at level 40, you should start PQing heavily. The PQs are a great source of exp, so milk it.
.-:-.Overcoming the pain.-:-.
Face it, your going to have a hard time staying true to your character unless your some type of MS fanatic. It's hard enough staying with a normal character, but now you'll see that having an account like this could be your biggest challenge yet. These are a couple of ways you can stay motivated, and keep on pushing to get your character to big big fame status.
1) Show off. It's one of the most satisfying things you could do with a class like this. When you walk around channel one Henesys and go, "Have you guys ever seen a STR Mage?," you'll spark lots of conversations. Then when you finally come out the bag and say "Well, your looking at one," people instantly become interested in what you can do. It's almost as if your putting on a show to display something that people have very little experience with.
2) Dream about the future. When you think about how awesome your character'll be in the 50s and 60s, you start feeling as if you've gotta get there as fast as possible. This makes you train like crazy for the time being. Once you gather up around 70% of your exp bar, then you'll push yourself to just level and get it over with. This cycle starts all over again, and you'll end up training your character like never before.
3) Set goals. When you get on MS, say to yourself "I'm going to get 10% today," and follow through. When you set small goals, the larger goal isn't as intimidating. As long as you know your pace, you can set your goal. I tell myself I will get 20% for every three hours I'm on MS. Seeing as how I'm really on randomly and for an hour and a half at most, I get my 20% and then idle around town until I get off.
4) Take breaks. When you get to a point where you feel like leveling will take forever, you are infact a true STR Mage. Saying that, leveling really *will* take forever, so its up to you to make sure you don't bore yourself away from your character. Take a week off, and play another character. Maybe you can chat, do GQs, or other random stuff like try and get to jr. rog. Take a load off, and enjoy the more relaxing side of MS. Trust me, if you do this every 50%, your character'll never run out on you.
Skill Booklet
.-:-.My Book.-:-.
(Level 32)
.-:-.First Job.-:-.
Basically, you want your book to look EXACTLY like mines, besides the six bolt. Your going to pump one point into bolt, then get working on Imp. MP Rec. Get it to the minimum to start putting points into Incr. Max MP, which is what your going to max. Then get working on maxing Magic Armor, then Magic guard. The rest of your points will be used for Imp. MP Rec., and that basically it. Pretty simple if I say so myself.
.-:-.Second Job.-:-.
This is when stuff starts getting complicated. What job you go for wil decide what your going to put your points into, so strap up.
Ver.A(F/P)
Your going to put 5 points into Teleport, where you'll then max slow. After you get done maxing slow, your going to max meditation(to make you somewhat wanting in a party), and then throw points where you want to put them. The three things you only really need though are Slow, Tele, and Medi. The smart thing would be to max Imp. MP Rec in your first book, then using the rest of the points on whatever you feel like. I reccomend the poison brace.
Ver.B(I/L)
Your going to do the exact same thing as F/P.
Ver.C(Cleric)
First, your going to get your heal to 10. After doing that, you'll proceed to max invincible, and then teleport. After maxing both those, get to maxing your heal, then max Bless. You can throw the rest of the points into your first skill booklet's Imp. MP Rec., getting the rest of that skill maxed, then the rest of the remaining can go into whatever.
The guide is not complete, but I feel that I should post it now or never. I've been holding off on working on it for way too long(About a month to be precise), and I feel that I'll find some type of motivation in hearing from the posters of HS. Thanks for reading, I love your guys.
STR Mage v1(First guide)
The basic concept behind this, is that you get your character's INT up to 20, which is the minimum INT needed to make the 1st job advancement to a magician. After that, keep your DEX 4 points above your current level, and dump the rest into STR. By doing this, you get a magician that uses physical attacks instead of magic (Keeping up with all three stats is a dumb idea. One way or the other).
My STR Pizard is currently lvl 23. Because I wanted to PQ, I put 5 points into DEX, starting at lvl 21. This allows me to hit everything in the PQ properly, If I supply myself with acc pots aswell. When I hit lvl 24, I'll go back to my regular schedule of SP distrobution.
This is a fun class. Seriously. At first I thought it was gonna turn into another super-beginner-like class, and that it was gonna end with me quitting it and going back to the most boring Cleric on earth. But it didn't. It ended up being a class you can play seriously, with no drawbacks (As of now >_>).
-:=:- AP Distrobution for a STR Pizard: 1st Job -:=:-
lvl 1-4:+5 int
Every lvl after: +4 str, +1 dex
-:=:- SP Distrobution for a STR Pizard: 1st Job -:=:-
Lvl 8: +1 Energy Bolt
Lvl 9: +3 Improving MP Recovery
Lvl 10: +2 Improving MP Recovery, +1 Max MP Increase
Lvl 11: +3 Max MP Increase
Lvl 12: +3 Max MP Increase
Lvl 13: +3 Max MP Increase (Maxed ;o)
Lvl 14: +3 Improving MP Recovery
Lvl 15: +2 Improving MP Recovery, +1 Magic guard
Lvl 16: +3 Magic guard
Lvl 17: +3 Magic guard
Lvl 18: +3 Magic guard
Lvl 19: +3 Magic armor
Lvl 20: +3 Magic armor
Lvl 21: +3 Magic armor
Lvl 22: +1 Magic armor
Lvl 23: +3 Energy Bolt
Lvl 24: +1 Energy Bolt, +2 Magic guard
Lvl 25: +3 Magic guard
Lvl 26: +3 Magic guard
Lvl 27: +2 Magic guard (Maxed ;x), +1 Magic armor
Lvl 28: +3 Magic armor
Lvl 29: +3 Magic armor
Lvl 30: +3 Magic armor (Maxed :d)
Why not max Magic Claw/Bolt?
The fact is, your INT rating sucks. Even if you DID max these things, you wouldn't have any use for them. You couldn't hit anything, seeing as how your Magic accuracy depends on your INT levels, not your DEX levels. The reason I didn't go for claw, and instead went for bolt, is because Claw is VERY weak at low INT levels. Your claw is gonna do CRAP damage at lvl 4, seeing as how you've gotta put that extra point into bolt before you get to claw. Another reason to go bolt.
Yeah, but why the other skills?
Why Max MP Increase? Because your gonna need a big MP bar to take all those physical attacks you'll be getting. Why not max Improving MP Recovery? Thats really is only needed if your using magic attacks 24/7. Seeing as how your attacking, you really aren't gonna need to be recovering MP all that fast. You COULD go Boltless, and put the remaining points into this skill, but it really isn't needed, and doesn't give you a great boost in any department.
Why max Magic guard/armor? These skills own for what you specialize in doing. Getting hit. Face it. A mage doesn't have the largest DEF rating, or a HP bar for that matter. Your gonna need all you can get to keep you alive, right? So you max these two skills and BOOM. +40 DEF and 80% of physicals attack directed to your once-useless MP bar. I can't stress maxing these two enough. Think about it. You aren't going to be able to wear ANYTHING. The highest leveled item you'll be wearing is a sauna robe, and you want to scroll that with DEX scrolls, not DEF.
Unfortunatly, I have not made the Pizard job advancement yet. However, I WILL post an AP guide on the second page of this guide, if it ever reaches that high >_>
-:=:-Training Guide-:=:-
Level 1-8:
Maple Island all the way. Theres no reason to leave early, seeing as how you don't have the full strength of a warrior. Training here is perfectly fine.
Level 8-13:
Go to the Tree that grew, and live there for these levels. When you get your first point into bolt, use that. Bolt is stronger than your regular whacking attacks right now, so don't be afraid to use it. But also let it be known that if you run out of MP, you can always whack a monster. That extra STR isn't there for show, you know >_>
Level 14-17:
Orange mushes. These things spawn well, and provide a good amount of exp for your level. You CAN stay at slimes if you want, but after a while it gets boring. By this level, you should be using your whacks, and not your m.attacks.
Level 18-20:
If you went for more STR and less DEX, then stay at Orange mushes. Otherwise, move on up a rank and go work on green mushes. These things are great training, with great drops. Be warned it can get crowded with these monsters >_>
Level 20-24:
This is where your options REALLY open up. Now that your base attack is high, you can go to a variety of places to train. You can go work on horny mushes, roll up on zombie mushes, mess with the blue mushes, or go pig beach until your a little stronger. Yeah, this is the mush stage <_<
Level 25-30:
Either PQ or Wild boars. Your basically a powerhouse now, so you can go walk around and find the best place for you.
To be continued
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Very extensive guide - I love the face pic's next to pro's and con's :D
I give it a 10/10, thumbs up from me !
Darkphive started a str mage some time ago (I believe it's also 32), you should talk to him.
To all the future str mages, I think cleric is the best job - you get buff skills that help with beginner-like hp and heal - you don't have anywhere near enough int to utilize the other mage's skills, the only good thing they being slow.
I hate you for being in Scania, I wish I could help out :(
Wow, I didn't know you were still taking the idea of Fire/Poison STR mage from me. Thought you had moved on.
Great guide. Can't think of anything you're missing in it.
If I hadn't spent 40mill on equips and scrolls I would have helped you out myself.
=D
yes it is lvl 32 now, here are my stats and stuff...
i really have to disagree with the 6 bolt thing, there is really no reason for it.
its easy enough to lvl, and u can use snail shells if ur really desperate.MP is important for a STR mage.
and also for the cleric,i dont see the point in 10 heal, because heal is effected by INT at lvl 10 a heal would give you about 6 HP...
im doing this build because its PQ friendly, and i know lvl 35+ will be impossible without PQ unless i wanna kill myself.
my build
30~1 tele
31~3 heal
32~2 heal 1 inv.
33~3 inv.
34~1inv. 2 bless
35~3 bless
36~3 bless
37~3 bless
38~3 bless
39~3 bless
40~3 bless (maxed)
41~3 tele
42~3 tele
43~3 tele
44~3 tele
45~3 tele
46~3 tele
47~1 tele (maxed) 2 inv.
48~3 inv.
49~3 inv.
50~3 inv.
51~3 inv.
52~1 inv. (maxed)
then max heal
and then MP eater
then HA
[in this build i might switch around heal and inv.]
another way that would work would be if u were to switch around tele and bless.
edit:also i cant tell you guys how much pills helped me out.
sniper and warrior pills are awesomeness! specially in the PQ
and i would really recommend going dexless because as u see i have 37 accuracy vs her 50 but there is really no reason to have to much accuracy, because i train at boars and its not bad exp, soon i will get an extra 10 acc from my maple sword and then even 20 more from bless and then 10 more from my (either impaler cuz i already have one or) lvl 43 maple sword.
i was also thinking that at lvl 40 i will try the umbrella which might actually make heal usable...maybe...
yes the min dmg is lower, but it will be low no matter what and for the 15 dmg i lose i gain like 70
and dont forget im using the pig book which has faster attack speed and is a blunt weapon, i think she is using a baseball bat which is a fast two-handed sword
Mardia~OddPhive lvl 43 Brawler (Semi-Active)
Mardia~MetalicPhive lvl 52 Bandit (Frozen)
Scania~NenoPhive lvl 91 I/L MAGE (Frozen)
Scania~SpellSword (SpeiLSword) lvl 40 STR Cleric (Frozen)
I completely agree with you in terms of not getting bolt, because I myself wish I hadn't wasted them extra five points into that skill. But last night/this morning, I was so tired I didn't feel like adding/changing jack. Now that I'm fresh again, I can edit out the stuff I didn't like and add some more stuffs.
I can kinda understand the low DEX thing, but I can't afford scrolls and such in order to buff up my Sauna robe. What makes it worse is that I don't have friends to train with, so I'm basically on my own 24/7.
Regarding the heal thing, I said put it into 10 because thats when it heals your own health 100%, which in my opinion is all you need at that level. I'm trying to get the person to look out for themselves first, and then worry about getting that to 30. You aren't going to be using Heal as your main attack, so there isn't any reason to get it to a "oh shick" level.
Also, I wanted to add more pictures, but theres a limit of 10 images per post, so I might have to take the guide to an outside source in order to fully post the entire thing.
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100% overall for DEX is 35k eachOriginally Posted by Hyperhal
thats only 350k for the sauna, pretty cheap xD
and i train solo too o_O
sometimes ppl are like "hey your cool! ill help you train!"
but mostly its solo...
as for the heal, i see what you mean, but like i said lvl 10 heal heals about 6 HP, very useless lol...
edit:also bless is not only thinking about others, it helps you a lot also, since str mage is pretty much a warrior and we all know how much warriors like bless :)
Mardia~OddPhive lvl 43 Brawler (Semi-Active)
Mardia~MetalicPhive lvl 52 Bandit (Frozen)
Scania~NenoPhive lvl 91 I/L MAGE (Frozen)
Scania~SpellSword (SpeiLSword) lvl 40 STR Cleric (Frozen)
You should get one of the colored umbrellas like luk-less mages do. If you scroll it, it'll be a pretty good melee weapon and it'll increase heal efficacy (assuming you're a cleric).
F/P STR mages IMO should get poison asap. Somewhere on the HS forums someone said that poison did 70hp or 2.5% of the monsters max hp when maxed regardless of matk.
But thats only if you can hit them. your magic's accuracy depends on your int levels, so if you don't have the int to hit them, thenyou can't poison them.
I've thought it out already. >_>
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