Ice Strike or Amp 1st?

[SienZ1991]

Ok so I made it to 70 on my I/L, and now that I actually have used Ice Strike myself, god it's horizontal range is pathetic. I'm actually still finding myself using Lightning Bolt more, so... as titled, which should I go 1st?

Is there a good side of Ice Strike that I'm missing here? For me it's strengths used to be it being a mobbing move that could freeze, allowing you to take on a lot of ice weak monsters a lot earlier than anyone else like WKs back in the day. (Kents > Bains > Wyverns ) But now, with BBP accuracy formula flushing all that jazz down the drain, will Lightning Bolt + Amp be better for lvls 70-77?

[rasudoken]

Weird, I thought Post-BB (and/or Post-Chaos) removed the level-by-level range increment on Ice Strike.

If you are unable to use Ice Strike efficiently, then I think going AMP would be the next best thing to do.

Based on speculation

[Tesiqurasa]

Thunder Bolt will definitely beat Ice Strike if all you're working with is 1 hit rates. Before Booster, Bolt has a cast time of 810ms, and Ice Strike is 1050ms. With booster, TB goes down to 720ms, and IS goes to 930ms.

Unless a mage is incredibly weak, KO rates matter far more than set damage. Other than Sand Dwarfs and Desert Giants, there aren't many ele weak mobs until later in 3rd job, so picking an element isn't incredibly important. Most early 3rd job Magatia mobs have about 30k hp (from Sand Rats to Mutae). To mostly 1 hit them with TB (and AMP), you'd need about a 7-8k min range, which is obviously difficult for a mage at that lvl.

To 2 hit with TB, you'd only need about a 4k range (again, give or take depending on def/mob type).

To mostly 1 hit with IS (no AMP), you'd need a ~6-7k min range, and for 2 hitting you'd need ~3.5k.

Keep in mind that those are very rough assumption numbers spanning an entire group of similar mobs, but you should get the idea. If TB doesn't much change your KO rates, then go with AMP first. Otherwise, go with IS first. Both will be maxed by the middle of 3rd job anyway.

If your KO rates still won't change after the mid 80s, put some points into Booster before IS.


Also, you should put at least 1 point into Teleport Mastery early on.

[SienZ1991]

I'll probably go with Amp 1st then, since I'll still max Ice Strike in time for Desert Giants. I'm not too keen on investing too much money on my I/L at the moment ( just spent 300k NX on a GM 1h sword scroll, yes they are THAT expensive in SEA, given that there are only 2 left in the entire SEA region and no event to get them)