Mage damage shield question

[MikeXG]

I know you need to do 51%+ of a mobs HP to get full XP. I am curious, does damage that ticks from the flame shield line (when cast on pet) count towards your damage, pets damage, or is it negated?

Thanks!

[razzellu]

DS does not count towards damage, no matter how much damage it actually does.

[MikeXG]

So in theory, if a mob had 1000 HP - The DS somehow did 800 DMG you would only need to do 101 damage while you pet did the remaining 99 to get full XP? Even though in this scenario you didn't actually do half the mobs HP? Or Do you need to do 51% of the damage regardless of whatever makes up the remaining 49%?

[NegaStoat]

Correct. The Damage shield is a Neutral source of damage for keeping score of what you need to beat out your pet for getting full experience.

[MikeXG]

Is this also true for the fire pets innate damage shield?

[Jauna]

Yes

[MikeXG]

Okay, awesome that makes it a lot better. I am new to mage and previously played necro. What are the go to mage solo mechanics? I’ve heard fire pet / reclaim energy and a nuke to finish them off is pretty solid. Are the other methods just the obvious ones? ie nuke it while your pet tanks etc? I’m just having a hard time out damaging the pet without having lots of downtime.

[Nycon43]

Yeah just let the mob kill itself on fire pet DS, when it gets low/starts to flee reclaim pet and nuke for all the exp. Try and get the mob down to around 10% life so you can kill it with a single nuke. At higher levels you will have to do the chain summon pet tactic to kill stuff efficiently.

[MikeXG]

Is firepet a better option than the other 3 and maintaining the DS?

[Nycon43]

Is firepet a better option than the other 3 and maintaining the DS?

Yeah the fire pet DS is stronger than the DS you can cast.

[isoka]

Quest as soon as possible the Torch of Alna (https://wiki.project1999.com/Torch_Of_Alna_Quest), that will increase your fire pets HP as well as giving you instant cast reclaim energy.

In addition to what Nycon43 said, the fire pet innate DS is stronger than your own DS and is mana free, which is what makes it so valuable. When you will be chaining fire pets, make sure to hit pet back off till it buffs itself with DS, cause it doesn't pop with it on.

[MikeXG]

Yea those focus items are great. I am only 14 so far so need 6 more levels for that clicky reclaim energy. But I have the shovel, torch, and broom. Cant seem to find a stein (have all the pieces but stein if anyone is selling one....) I can already see post 20 the reclaim being super useful. I have the same item on my high level shaman and it is a game changer, can only imagine in being even more so for mage.

So far I've been summoning a focused earth elemental buffing him with DS and nuking while he holds hate. but Mana is an issue for that Strat as well as chaining fire pet. I can see it becoming easier with levels, as all things are. Do you maintain Burnout and other pet buffs when cycling fire pets or pretty much just have pets DS up?

[Nagoya]

At very low level you're better off chain killing mobs at 50%xp IMO. Chain summoning pet is not worth it at level 14, just do 1dmg to mind and let your pet wreck blue mobs non-stop. You might get 50%xp but you kill twice as fast with no downtime. Pick a place where mobs are plenty and let your pet work and forget about the xp penalty ^^

[Nycon43]

At very low level you're better off chain killing mobs at 50%xp IMO. Chain summoning pet is not worth it at level 14, just do 1dmg to mind and let your pet wreck blue mobs non-stop. You might get 50%xp but you kill twice as fast with no downtime. Pick a place where mobs are plenty and let your pet work and forget about the xp penalty ^^

Yeah agree with this, I didn't bother reclaiming the pet until 20. Fire pet DS is like power leveling yourself from 4-20.

[MikeXG]

Yeah agree with this, I didn't bother reclaiming the pet until 20. Fire pet DS is like power leveling yourself from 4-20.

I hit 20 last night and yea, this method is def the way to go 4-20

I'm really happy with my Mage's progress, level 20 self made and decent gear. I got a decent amount of money from letting my flame pet go nuts on willow wisp isle. Good money and XP from Greater light stone turn in. I have all 4 minor focus items too which is a huge game changer.

Does this method still work in the 20s or, now that I have clickie reclaim) should I cycle through pets? I would really like to get into solo dungeon crawling. Find a corner and post up with pet. ZEM in open world is meh. Any suggestions on dungeons that might scratch that itch?

Thanks for all the replies!

[Maligner]

It's my understanding that chain casting isn't mana efficient until the mob difficulty passes the ability to effectively cast renew to heal pet. Meaning that healing the pet is more efficient than casting a new one. Of course, with the clicky renew maybe that's not true. It's also my understanding that the mana you get back from renew is related to the pet's HP. For a pet with full health, you get back 100% mana. A pet at 10% health you only get 10% of the casting cost back. Which means chain casting is not efficient. Supposedly chain casting becomes more desirable in the level 50 range.

I used to play a mage years ago on live but it's been so long I forget specifics. Just started here so I can't guarantee any of this.

[Crede]

Does this method still work in the 20s or, now that I have clickie reclaim) should I cycle through pets? I would really like to get into solo dungeon crawling. Find a corner and post up with pet. ZEM in open world is meh. Any suggestions on dungeons that might scratch that itch?!

You should definitely be in upper guk at 20. The zem is insane there, and your fire pet will still wreck those with some assistance from you. Should be staying there until the low 30s, at which point you can either try Sol a or maybe nurga/dalnir. Those mobs have relatively low hp and I've seen mages do those.

[Tuurin]

Dalnir with no CC sounds no bueno. I can't say that I've tried it though. I can say that around level 30 if you're going to solo on a mage it's going to have to be mobs that you can pull individually. Chaining doesn't work if you have multiple mobs.

Now Mage with a healer and/or a root/cc class are awesome, and should be great in some of those dungeons. I'd suggest that 30+ solo mages stick to outdoor zones or the rare dungeons where you can single pull with no cc.

[Crede]

Yea those focus items are great. I am only 14 so far so need 6 more levels for that clicky reclaim energy. But I have the shovel, torch, and broom. Cant seem to find a stein (have all the pieces but stein if anyone is selling one....)

All 4 focus items can be obtained at the CT gators or Najena. From my personal experience the torch is extremely rare off the gators, I ended up going to Najena to get it. However for the other 3 items including stein, CT gators are your best bet IMO.