soloing with a mage for dummies, need help

[commongood]

Hey there,

I've been reading the two guides to leveling a mage on the wiki and while they have a lot of merit I've finding it hard to come by answers to my questions...

I have a level 11 mage. I've MQd velious robe and pants. What should be my strategy for soloing my way to 60? Not asking for advice on which camps to do, but more on a strategy level...

Which pet do I use? And do I just summon and buff a pet and let it tank and heal it? Or do I do any shenanigans with dismissing it before mob dies for more exp?

[Christina.]

Hi I responded to your p.m but after reading this post I don't think I elaborated enough in the reply pertaining to your request you have here.

As a magician we have 4 pets. Fire Water Earth Air.
Being you want to solo your way through the game (pre 50) you'll only want to be using the Fire and Earth pet. I used the fire pet back when I leveled because they had an insane regeneration rate and it made things incredibly easy with their damage shields. Even without the regeneration they had back then they are really good for soloing. If you find them too squishy hp wise for your liking you can summon a Earth pet and throw your highest Damage shield your able to cast on it, it won't be anywhere near high as your fire pets natural DS but it's something. Earth pets can root n are tankier while fire pets have less ac/hp but have crazy Ds an a little nuke. Fighting with a fire pet you'll notice you'll be pulling faster kills but finding yourself summoning him more. Fighting with Earth you'll notice the slower kills but also the security, duration and sturdiness. Here's where you have to decide which you want to have for a situation. Play around with them, see what you like.

While soloing your pet will more than likely do more damage than you so you have to just deal with them stealing some xp, I wouldn't go through reclaiming them before a fight ends just to get full xp then having to waste all the Mana in order to summon another.. Just let your pet do majority of the damage while you throw in 1 (at the MOST 2) of your biggest nukes for your level in a fight.. if your nuking more than 2 times a fight, id advise finding mobs with less hp being it would be more efficient for downtime /mana. The strategy is #1 make sure you summon the highest level pet possible, at your level you can determine this by it probably Considering you Yellow or Black, once your more experiencd you'll be paying attention to how hard it hits. #2 Once he's the highest summon possible, ALWAYS buff him. You'll get a spell that pumps his ac/HP / gives him a awesome haste. #3 Always Be Prepared to summon another pet. You'll want to start casting a new pet once you see your pets HP around 10-15% ..depending on how fast you see his hp dropping..if your gonna win the fight cool, let him endure it till death.. just always stay ready... If find yourself having to chain-summon in a match just make sure once the fight is over you reclaim him when he's at 100% HP this way you get full refund on Mana it took to summon him then resummon until you've gotten your Max level pet again. Don't ever waste your Mana Healing your pet after level 12. When your Max level pet is winning his fights you want to sit him down so he regens while your waiting for the mobs to respawn

I hope my advice was helpful lol I felt like I was writing a book so i stopped but yeah, mages rock lol

[Snaggles]

In the lower levels I'd stick to places you can bum/buy buffs. EC and WC are crappy zems but pretty easy to find a regrowth and a bored cleric/pally to give your pet an extra 1k+ hps. Same thing once you get into your mid 20's if you wanna hit highkeep for the ZEM. I'm sure it's not a big deal at 45+ but in the lower levels doubling a pet's HP's makes for some easy grinding. Plus easy to find rezzes in those locations.

The best thing I did with my warrior was to camp a bag of root nets. Obviously not the same thing as a mage but the game plan is pretty similar when soloing...single target, no backup plan, etc.

[Christina.]

Steamfont Mountains till 12
12-19 Lesser Faydark Sisters by MM Zoneline
19-20 Oasis Group (only time I groupd unles bored)
20-24 Eastern Karana Crag Spiders
24-29 Elf sisters at dock
29-34 Guards. (I did Freeport)
34-50 Oasis, Ferrott Spectres
49-50 Seafurry Cyclops (If you want more of a challenge)

POST 50+ soloing isn't efficient so you'll want to group, sebilis groups 55+

This is the same guide I use anytime I play EverQuest and starting out fresh.. Using my method you wont need any players buffs and you'll make enough platnium pieces to buy amazing gear ;)

[loramin]

Hi I responded to your p.m but after reading this post I don't think I elaborated enough in the reply pertaining to your request you have here.

As a magician we have 4 pets. Fire Water Earth Air.
Being you want to solo your way through the game (pre 50) you'll only want to be using the Fire and Earth pet. I used the fire pet back when I leveled because they had an insane regeneration rate and it made things incredibly easy with their damage shields. Even without the regeneration they had back then they are really good for soloing. If you find them too squishy hp wise for your liking you can summon a Earth pet and throw your highest Damage shield your able to cast on it, it won't be anywhere near high as your fire pets natural DS but it's something. Earth pets can root n are tankier while fire pets have less ac/hp but have crazy Ds an a little nuke. Fighting with a fire pet you'll notice you'll be pulling faster kills but finding yourself summoning him more. Fighting with Earth you'll notice the slower kills but also the security, duration and sturdiness. Here's where you have to decide which you want to have for a situation. Play around with them, see what you like.

While soloing your pet will more than likely do more damage than you so you have to just deal with them stealing some xp, I wouldn't go through reclaiming them before a fight ends just to get full xp then having to waste all the Mana in order to summon another.. Just let your pet do majority of the damage while you throw in 1 (at the MOST 2) of your biggest nukes for your level in a fight.. if your nuking more than 2 times a fight, id advise finding mobs with less hp being it would be more efficient for downtime /mana. The strategy is #1 make sure you summon the highest level pet possible, at your level you can determine this by it probably Considering you Yellow or Black, once your more experiencd you'll be paying attention to how hard it hits. #2 Once he's the highest summon possible, ALWAYS buff him. You'll get a spell that pumps his ac/HP / gives him a awesome haste. #3 Always Be Prepared to summon another pet. You'll want to start casting a new pet once you see your pets HP around 10-15% ..depending on how fast you see his hp dropping..if your gonna win the fight cool, let him endure it till death.. just always stay ready... If find yourself having to chain-summon in a match just make sure once the fight is over you reclaim him when he's at 100% HP this way you get full refund on Mana it took to summon him then resummon until you've gotten your Max level pet again. Don't ever waste your Mana Healing your pet after level 12. When your Max level pet is winning his fights you want to sit him down so he regens while your waiting for the mobs to respawn

I hope my advice was helpful lol I felt like I was writing a book so i stopped but yeah, mages rock lol

As a counterpoint, on Teal I've used the Water pet exclusively up to 25, with zero regrets.

It's way tougher than the Fire pet, but has a useful (ie. damaging) proc instead of the Earth pet's (generally useless for leveling) root proc. Sure the Earth pet might have a few more HP, but in my experience the Water pet kills faster, and that more than makes up for it.

YMMV, and I'm sure what specifically you fighting matters too.

P.S. For my leveling path basically just click the Magician filter on the Per-Level Guide, as I've tried to add every spot I use to it.

[Balimon]

From my experience I prefer Fire or Earth pet as well. 29-51 Fire pet is hard to beat with a torch, you can reclaim level with almost no downtime. 51-56 the only pet you can really use solo is the 49 earth.

I personally feel like the water pet is over hyped. Every pet has it's role: Earth has huge HP and root, great for nuke leveling, reclaiming, or just powering down stuff. Fire has that huge damage shield and a fire proc, pre-50 it literally melts mobs down. Air has a stun, which is great for holding aggro, and it can invis allowing you do some tricky things.

Water has a proc.....and some hit points? It just doesn't fill any niche role we need. Earth fulfills the HP much better, fire has the same proc + the damage shield. On some of my mage toons I would use it 1-24 or so, but I find myself leaning towards air and earth for those levels now. At 49 it is almost useless in my opinion, the proc is so tiny, there just aren't many situations where that proc justifies pulling it out.

Water becomes really nice at 54 with the first rogue pet and finally comes into it's own as a real pet. Sadly the fire pet turns useless until Dyzil's at 56, but that's another story.

[Christina.]

Water becomes really nice at 54 with the first rogue pet and finally comes into it's own as a real pet.

The first water pet I buy to be honest lol, before he's a rogue he doesn't serve me.

[Christina.]

29-51 Fire pet is hard to beat with a torch

Fire has that huge damage shield and a fire proc, pre-50 it literally melts mobs down. Air

Facts. I forgot to mention focus items.

[commongood]

Thanks for expanding your answer Christina. I'll try out the different things you suggest :)

[Tethler]

At low level, fire pet is a beast. The DS is amazing. I leveled my blue mage from 12-30 using only the fire pet, pulling with level 1 nuke, and tossing a couple pet heals. Was even soloing red giants at the warsliks giant fort in the mid-20s. It's dumb. Once you near 30, your pet won't survive anymore and you'll have to change tactic to pet chaining.

[TheDudeAbides]

Don't bother with the fire pet at low levels if you don't have a focus item

On Green/Teal use water pet

[Tethler]

Don't bother with the fire pet at low levels if you don't have a focus item

On Green/Teal use water pet

The focus is good, but it doesn't make so much difference that the pet isn't usable. I didn't have my mage focus until the 20s and fire pet worked just fine before getting it..

[Christina.]

Once you near 30, your pet won't survive anymore and you'll have to change tactic to pet chaining.

He will it just depends what you are soloing, if in an emergency I don't see why a pet heal will hurt but once he's higher you won't even need a one. 4-50 I used fire :-)

[TheDudeAbides]

The focus is good, but it doesn't make so much difference that the pet isn't usable. I didn't have my mage focus until the 20s and fire pet worked just fine before getting it..

I'm not saying it isn't viable. It can be.

It's more efficient to use Water Pet till 24 at least though starting fresh, especially if you don't have a focus item

The Fire Pet benefits the most from a focused item because it makes it's damage shield that much more powerful because it can soak up more damage which = more neutral damage

[Siege]

I'm not saying it isn't viable. It can be.

It's more efficient to use Water Pet till 24 at least though starting fresh, especially if you don't have a focus item

The Fire Pet benefits the most from a focused item because it makes it's damage shield that much more powerful because it can soak up more damage which = more neutral damage

It's not just the lack of a focus item that makes Fire Pet garbage in the early levels on Green. It's the lack of a pet heal, which Mages don't get until Kunark.

[keithjinternet]

It's not just the lack of a focus item that makes Fire Pet garbage in the early levels on Green. It's the lack of a pet heal, which Mages don't get until Kunark.

This

[Frug]

12-19 Lesser Faydark Sisters by MM Zoneline


This camp is almost as bad as a /list camp.

[Christina.]

This camp is almost as bad as a /list camp.

Is it always camped on the new server lol? I don't play there I wouldn't know

[Frug]

At low level, fire pet is a beast. The DS is amazing. I leveled my blue mage from 12-30 using only the fire pet, pulling with level 1 nuke, and tossing a couple pet heals.

No heal on green yet.

[Frug]

Is it always camped on the new server lol? I don't play there I wouldn't know

100%. And no pet heal.

[Christina.]

100%. And no pet heal.

Ouch.

[OuterChimp]

Are the items to eventually get the Sol Ro focus items even in the game yet on Green?

[DMN]

I think how good the fire pet is depends on a lot of factors. The primary one being whether you plan to kill the pet on every mob or not. If so then the fire pet can be by far the most efficient pet. If you don't plan to use that strategy then it's not for you.

[isoka]

If you go the fire pet road and have to chain pets, make sure that you /pet back off your newly casted fire pets till it instant casts its damage shield.

[Vexenu]

I think how good the fire pet is depends on a lot of factors. The primary one being whether you plan to kill the pet on every mob or not. If so then the fire pet can be by far the most efficient pet. If you don't plan to use that strategy then it's not for you.
The other big factor is fighting mobs in the XP sweet spot who are just barely dark blue. This results in a lot of low damage hits on the fire pet, which do the full DS damage in return but allow the pet to tank much longer. With good mob selection you should only need one fire pet and one nuke to kill each mob.

[Wrekt]

All of you are SEVERELY overthinking this. The only thing you need to know is:

/pet back
/pet attack

That's it. You're now a pro Mage. You wasted a lot of money gearing it... My 55 Mage is fucking naked. The only thing she's wearing is her Jboots and she fucks - hard.

[Christina.]

I been a 60 magician so long I don't remember how it is now but back when I was low I remember the Regen on the pets was sick!

[Tethler]

No heal on green yet.

OP said they have MQ'd velious robe/pants. They aren't on green.

[Wallicker]

With a clickie 25 pt DS and clickie burnout 3, you should be using a focus water or earth pet no questions.... go for some cheap 25+ dmg weapons and a torch too

[Christina.]

I always use alna torch focused fire pet leveling up.

I'm not a fan of using water pre 60

Fire till 49 then Earth till 60 then 60 water pet
54 water if grouped till 60.

[Robersonroger38]

What mobs would you kill at lvl 41? Also what is your routine in killing a mob . Seems like my fire pet dies fast , and when I get new pet raised my new pet cant get agro.....

[Christina.]

It's been awhile but if you play on green and there's a heal in game already, try hitting him with a few heals while fighting Spectres.