To begin, I just want to state that I am writing this short guide just to help those who are new or a bit intimidated at playing mage because of how low their defense, but with a bit of practice you will soon find them the most fun in my opinion.
Playing with melee basics and tips:
1. As a mage your job isn't to just nova nova make np blah blah, you are basically the leader or subleader of your party, Your job is to watch everyone and make sure everyone stays together and doesn't split. Again don't constantly tp your party because that just gets annoying, you just have to make sure no warrior goes solo without a priest, and always regrouping the party should be the number 1 priority.
2. Know when to use your shield and t/hero staff and how to run, because since you are a mage, you probably have the lowest ac in the party. When fighting other parties, if it is not clear who is the dominate party within 10 seconds. Best thing to do is to switch to your 1h staff and shield because using the chaos/2handed staff is just too risky. You also cannot die, unless there is another mage, your party cannot regroup from death, forcing everyone to town or wasting a rezzer time finding and rezzing you which may cause other players in your party to die.
3. Know who is being attacked and the weakest person in your party because most likely its either you or that person. Try your best to tp that person around and confusing the enemies. And if you are being attacked, learn to run around by using your party members as walls to help you block. If you have blink use it, its not necessary but it can help. If you are in a good clan, try to have warriors decent on you when you are being ganged up on.
(Luring)4. Mages should always observe the battlefield constantly when doing 1v1 party skirmishes. If you know your party is outmatched, then run away and rgr=regroup them asap. If you have melee chasing after you while you are trying to make a rgr, tp just 1 priest for a heal and just keep running. Never tp the buffer because debuffer stand no chance at curing, healing, debuffing all at the same time. Then slowly start to tp the rest of your party while you are running. If you let 1 or 2 party members die, its fine because in the long run, you saved the other 6. Splitting the party sometimes has its benefits because the melee chasing after you are also split, meaning tping the rest of your party can take out their stranded members.
5. Priests should always be protect. If you see your priests mainly buffers being ganged up on by the opposite party, Tp them in a safe and close area. This kind of goes hand in hand with watching your party members, and observing the battlefield. But very important!!! DO NOT TP THEM TOO MUCH because you might interrupt the animation of their heal causing your party members to die. Try your best to tp them after their animation or after the spell has been casted.
6. Learn your staff combo, for me I use the S combo because the staff doesn't hit fast enough in order to use a RR combo or WR combo. Fire mages do a very large amount of dmg because not everyone has high fire resistance. A good mage combo can make a huge difference in taking out the opposing parties priests.
7. Don't be mad or angry when people complain over a tp they didn't want. You just have to remember that you are doing your job. Obviously if they say NO TP, and you tp them, its your fault and you should feel bad. But I will say this again, DON'T be mad if you make a bad tp once or twice because as time goes on your battlefield observation and decision making will only get better.
Playing with other mages or mage party:
1. Get teamspeak or Ventrilo this is a must and doesn't really need to be explained.
2. Watch each other backs because you are strongest when together and actually care about each other......
3. Always nova together and use absolute power before nova, I know alot of mages who do not have the habit of always using absolute power which can make a difference between getting and not getting that kill.
4. Set or assign primary regroupers in your party, I usually go with 2 regroupers, 1 to tp the top 4 and 1 to tp the bottom 4. This way there is no confusing on who is watching who and also saves alot of time when running away from large enemy groups.
5. Seems obvious but make sure most your nova mage parties go with 255 mp, 4 novas with fire nova and a choice of ice or light. Your job is to do dmg and getting out of there asap.
6. Try to mix up your novas when making nova nova. Have some mages use light/ice nova 1st, then fire. And some Fire 1st then ice/light. This way its possible the light or ice puts the enemies in a stunned or froze place not allowing them to run away.
If anyone else has useful ideas please post them. Again this is just my advice, if you dont like it then don't use these techniques. Thank you guys for reading
