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Ice Lightning Guide
Ice/Lightning Wizard, Mage, Arch Mage : Talk about the Ice/Lightning Wizard, Mage and Arch Mage classes
Ice Lightning Wizard/Mage Guide v10.9
Latest Update: Minor clarification to 3rd job skill builds
Please note that I go on MapleStory very scarcely because I'm busy with life. I'm still maintaing this guide though. Since I miss out on a lot of stuff, I'm always in need of new training places from new area releases, or any corrections and updates.
This guide is all about the Ice/Lightning Wizard and Mage.
Table of Contents
Lukless I/L Mages
Footnotes and Legal Blah
Out of the three mage classes? Why do you choose Ice/Lightning? Fire Mages have superior damage, and Clerics can heal buff etc, which is all very good. Ice/Lightning Mages are not as strong as Fire Mages, but they come with two bonuses.
One, they can FREEZE anything that is not a boss or ice based. When a mosnter is frozen, it stays still, will not come charging at you, and it can't use its special attacks either.
Two, they already get mob attacks in 2nd job. "But Clerics can heal!" That only works on undead monsters, it is unstable, and only damages five monsters. Many people forget that there is Lightning and only think of IL as Ice Mages. It is only because of Lightning that IL Mages are the fastest to train to level 70.
If you choose to become an Ice/Lightning Mage, it is important to know about the class and where to train. This guide is here for that. =D
Training places in this guide are listed as "Monster: Levels they give good exp" instead of the traditional "Levels: Monsters that give good exp". This is because the levels that a training place is good for can overlap, and you can have more variety of choosing where to train.
Every Mage starts out as a Beginner. There are certain rules of Magehood that you should follow throughout.
As said before, Mages require INT and LUK. INT is the big one. The higher your INT, the more damage you do with Magic. Enough said. LUK is the secondary one, it simply allows you to wear Mage equipment. The LUK requirement of Mage equipment is usually 3 above the level requirement (sometimes 2 above). Each level, when you are rewarded with 5 AP, you should add just enough LUK so that it is maintained at your Level +3, and ALL OTHER points go to INT. You can do this by adding +4 INT, +1 LUK every level, or you can keep adding +5 INT and add LUK when coming close to wearing a new piece of equipment. The second way has been proven to give you more MP, but it requires some extra planning.
If you click the Auto-Assign Stats button, this is all done for you correctly.
Your points are automatically distributed to STR so that you can do more damage with a noob sword. Keep whacking snails and use the Three Snails skill as often as you can to speed it up.
1st Job Advancement
When you are Level 8, leave Maple Island, go to Grendel the Really Old in Ellinia, talk to him, and become a Magician. This is the start of a fun, sometimes very boring, but rewarding, road.
When you get your 1st job, you will get the most basic Magician skills. They aren't very flashy, but they are the basis on which the entire Mage is built upon.
Increases the amount of MP you heal per amount of time. This skill is absolutely necessary to max.
The more skill points are in this, the more MP space you will gain each level. The earlier you max this, the more MP you will have.
Puts 80% of your damage to your MP instead of your HP. This is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, and if you do not max this, you won't be able to do any training once you are past level 70. This is because mages have ridiculously low HP but huge masses of MP. If a monster did 1000 damage to you, your HP would get damaged 200 and your MP 800.
The "alternative" to Magic Guard. This skill has visible effects when low leveled, but since it works by a reduction number rather than on percentage, this skill is useless at high levels. Plus, it requires 3 points in Magic Guard, which is another waste. If a monster did 1000 damage to you, your HP would probably get damaged like 960, which would probably still kill you in one hit. Don't put any points in this.
One point in this skill is used to unlock Magic Claw. It is weaker and affected by terrain.
The main attacking skill. It attacks twice, each time with base attack 40, so the total attack is 80.
1. Energy Bolt +1
2. MP Recovery +5
3. Max MP Increase
4a. Max MP Recovery
4b. Max Magic Claw
5. Max Magic Guard
Higher MP but Crazy Boring
1. MP Recovery +5
2. Max MP Increase
3. Energy Bolt +1
4a. Max MP Recovery
4b. Max Magic Claw
5. Max Magic Guard
Traditional builds will tell you to put the very first point, gained upon the job advancement, into Energy Bolt. This is so you can have some magic to start with. 5 points are then put in MP Recovery, so you can max MP Increase. The earlier you max that, the more MP you have. If you want to have perfect MP, you can start with one point in MP Recovery instead of Energy Bolt, but that means several more painful levels of snail whacking.
After MP Increase is maxed, you can choose whether you want MP Recovery or Magic Claw first. Only do Magic Claw if you are funded, because it drains MP much faster than Energy Bolt.
Magic Guard is last, and this absolutely needs to be maxed. Mages have the lowest HP, so almost all training places for Level 60+ require Magic Guard. Magic Armor won't help at all.
Henesys Hunting Ground I (Ground Floor)
You can stand on the hay bales and Energy Bolt the Snails and Shrooms without getting hurt. Unless there are some high levels KS'ing the map, it should be very fast training.
The Hill East of Henesys
You can still come here if there are too many high levels KS'ing HHG.
Tree Dungeon: Southern Forest I (aka the "Slime Tree)
This map is tall, narrow, and full of Slimes. They will burn your pots relatively fast.
Henesys Hunting Ground I (Level 2)
About the same spawn as the Slime Tree, but probably more KS'ers.
The Pig Beach
Very very fast spawn, you will almost never have to wait. Burns pots very fast though. Watch out for Iron Hog that spawns every now and then.
The Rainforest East of Henesys
A version of Pig Beach, smaller map, doesn't burn pots as fast.
Green Mushroom/Horny Mushroom
Tree Dungeon: Southern Forest IV (aka the "Mushroom Tree"
The same as the Slime Tree, except it has Green/Horny Mush instead. Since Mushrooms don't move that fast, you won't burn pots as fast.
Henesys Hunting Ground I (Level 4)
Great spawn of Green Mushrooms, but people just love to KS these.
Ant Tunnel I
Top left has a nice spawn of Horny Mushrooms, however the spawn may stop for a while if you are alone there. Horny Mushrooms are easy to kill because they have 0 Magic Defense.
Ant Tunnel I
Bottom right corner has a huge spawn of Zombie Mushrooms, especially on the lowest floor. They jump around rather quickly.
Land of Wild Boar I
Nice flat map with Wild Boars, but the occasional Jr Boogie will pop out and curse you if you hit it by accident. Wild Boars run very fast, so you will burn pots. About the same EXP rate as Zombie Mushrooms.
Land of Wild Boar II
A version of Land I that has no Jr Boogies. However, the map is a bit harder to circulate.
Evil Eye Cave I~IV
The vertical map is a bit annoying to navigate, but there are always huge mobs of Evil Eyes on each level. Though they have horrible drops, they have good exp.
Excavation Site III
These slow-moving things that are too cowardly to show their face are good exp. They are easy to kill and may also drop some good scrolls.
Requires Level 10+
Good EXP from level 10-20, if you can get in often. Sadly, not a lot of people are there to do it.
Requires Level 21-30
Good EXP and rewards, but sometimes the wait is not worth it and you can gain a lot of EXP during that waiting time.
2nd Job Advancement
Once you are level 30, go talk to Grendel and he gives you a letter to give to his colleague. His colleague is at the tippy top of Ellinia North Forest. Just keep climbing and you'll get there. Speak to the instructor, and he will take you into a tree full of horny mushroom and curse eye. The horny mushrooms have been powered up, and the curse eyes powered down. It shouldn't be too hard. Collect 30 dark marbles and talk to Instructor to exit. He gives you Proof of a Hero. Give the medal to Grendel, read his endless babbling if you want, and choose a job. Since this guide is Ice Lightning, I assume you choose Ice/Lightning.
At 2nd job you will get a skillbook with the basic Ice and Lightning Skills. This includes Cold Beam, which freezes, and Lightning, which mobs.
Your primary attack. At max level it has 100 base attack and it freezes too. 150% Dmg against fire, and 50% dmg against ice. This will also make you quite rich while training at Fire Boars and Red Drakes. I might randomly refer to this skill as "Ice" instead.
Your mob attack. At max level 60 base attack. 150% dmg to water based monsters. This is reason why Ice wizards level quickly. However, thunder uses up twice the MP of Cold Beam, and also more HP potions since you must be standing within a mob.
Increases your Magic Attack. At max level it adds 20 magic attack. If you follow the standard non-luckless magician AP build, this is makes you damage equivalent to as if you were 5 levels higher. It helps you level faster and also works for a party.
Slows down the speed of the monsters. At max level, -40 speed of six nearby monsters. Works well on mosnters that cannot be frozen. Many people tell you slow is useless, because you can freeze. Well, not all monsters can be frozen. Also, when a mob of monsters come on you, you can't freeze them all at once (until you get Ice Strike in 3rd job). It even works on bosses. This skill is a free-get for Fire Wizards, because they have no need to max Poison Brace. However, Ice Wizards must choose between this skill or MP Eater.
For every Magic Attack, chance that you will "eat" a percent of the monsters MP. The chances seem low, but are worth it. It will save you money when training at the higher level monsters, ie Death Teddy, because they have lots of MP to suck.
Teleport a certain distance in one direction. With 1 point at the beginning, you can escape from mobs or get to unreachable places. To telecast, attack and teleport immediately. If done correctly, you can telecast forwards (to the monster's other side) and you can telecast backwards (out of the monster's reach) Master telecasting and it will help lots. Also, teleporting at the right moment will negate most instant magic. Teleport can help to dodge projectile magic. Level 1, -60 MP, Level 20, -13 MP. Put 1 point early and max later.
1. Teleport +1
2. Max Cold Beam
3a. Max Lightning
3b. MP Eater +3
3b. Max Meditation
4a. Max Teleport
4b. Max MP Eater or Slow +18
5. 1 Free point
1. Teleport +1
2. Max Lightning
3a. Max Cold Beam
3b. MP Eater +3
3b. Max Meditation
4a. Max Teleport
4b. Max MP Eater or Slow +18
5. 1 Free point
The one point gained upon job advancement should go into Teleport, becauase it is about the only skill that is useful at Level 1. You can already use it to escape from mobs or travel long distances quickly.
The first decision to be made is whether to start with Ice or Lightning. Ice will provide a steady training speed, and more money income. Lightning will provide faster training, but it will burn your pots like crazy. You should have at least 2 mil mesos to max Lightning first.
Next you have a choice of maxing Meditation right after the first attack, or after the second attack. In any way, you have to put 3 points into MP Eater to unlock Meditation. Maxing Meditation right after the getting the first attack will strengthen that attack and you will level faster. Getting the second attack before maxing Meditation will open up more a variety of training places, and it won't be as boring.
After all that is done, you can max, in any order, Teleport and a choice of either Slow or MP Eater. One or the other. Sacrificing Teleport to get both Slow and MP Eater is not a good idea.
At Level 70, you'll get 1 Free point that you can stick in anywhere. Most people put it in Energy Bolt or Magic Armour.
Do some more
from 30-31, then say goodbye to it.
Level 30-35 are a mini-hell period. You can train at anywhere you trained at from level 25-30.
Ludibrium Terrace Hall
They give a fair amount of exp and spawn pretty quickly. This is a good way to get out of the mini-hell period.
Zipangu Crow Forest I or II
They spawn pretty fast and you can zap them with Lightning.
Level 35-42 (Ice build)
The Burnt Land II
Yay! The first monster that is weak to ice and good for training. Kill them as if they were Wild Boars. They also give lots of money.
Level 40-50 (Ice)
The Garden of Red/Yellow I
Stronger versions of Fire Boars, have a bit more HP, and spill out more money =D Both are weak to ice, and Jr Lioners seem to have better drops.
Level 40-50 (Ice)
Purple Plains 1
Essentiallly the same as Jr Cellions, but they drop a lot of money. There is only one floor of them.
Level 40-75 (Lightning build) 50-75 (Ice build)
Helios Tower 99th Floor
Amazing exp for 35 levels. There is a screw which you can stand on and zap the crazy fast spawn without moving. Almost like hacking.
The Path of Time <2>
An alternative if you get bored of Kitties in the later 40s. If you still don't have an Esther shield, you may want to train here.
Level 40-55 (Lightning build) 47-55 (Ice Build)
Lorang Lorang Lorang
The first IL trainable monster that is weak to Lightning. They gather in huge mobs, this place is a huge pot burner.
Paper Lantern Ghosts
Zipangu: A Night in the Forest
These are weak to Ice and also spawn with a few Night Foxes. The map is flat, so you can just tele left and right.
Straw Target Dummies
Mu Lung Practice Field: Beginner
Godly spawn, many people train on these. It may be hard to find a free channel. Even at the later levels they will be good exp because of the fast spawn. Same idea as Retz.
Singapore CBD: Suburban Area 2
These are about the only things that give fair exp in the Singapore CBD area. Don't get run over!
Garden of Red/Yellow II
The big versions of the little kitties earlier. Both are weak to Ice. They have a magic attack though. Again, Lioners seem to have better drops.
Dangerous Valley II
Training at Red Drakes is the mark of an IL Mage. These fire spitting dragons are no match against powers of Ice. Steelies are a prize too. If only NLC hadn't come out and deflated Steely prices like a pin and a balloon.
The Secret Spa
Everything in here is ice-weak, so you will have a terrific time! Just watch out for the poison shooting geysers.
Mysterious Path 3
You can basically teleport from end to end to mob everything up, and then kill them all from the center post. One of the monsters is lightning weak, adding to your ease. It may be hard to find a channel because this spot is popular.
The Forest of Gollem (aka FoG)
Well...what can I say about this place. The first time I saw this map, I thought someone was hacking. The spawn is so thick you can hardly see the background xD. Good training for many levels, but burns pots.
Forest of Dead Trees I~IV
Very fast spawn. It is hard to get to the map, unless you have a Dead Mine scroll. Partying with a priest at this place makes the best exp of all training places for late 60s to early 70s.
EXP 8/10, 10/10 with a Priest
Kerning City Subway Line 1 Area 4
Use ice to kill all the upper platforms, then use lightning to mob the bottom to one side. Then kill them all =D
Haunted House Vanity Room (The one thats upside down and backwards)
They spawn in 4s and are pretty good exp if you can kill them quickly. Four more will spawn almost immediately after the previous four were killed. Superb exp with a cleric/priest. The annoying thing is that this place is very popular and every time you change channel sends you back to town.
Watch out for Icy Path I
This is where people forget that "Lightning" part of IL Mages. They say "lol n00b why you train jr yeti they strong to ice". Use lightning to mob them all up, same idea as Wraiths.
Masteria Mountain Cliffs
Giving 220 exp but yet only having 3000 hp, these flying monsters are godly to train on. They even spawn in huge mobs. However, the platforms are very hard to navigate and you will find yourself continually falling off and not getting to the platform you want to get to. Burns pots faster than anything else mentioned above.
Requires Level 30-50
This has 100% completely replaced Ludi PQ. Much better exp and rewards.
Requires Level 35-50
No one does this anymore since Carnival PQ, but still an option..just for fun?
Requires Level 50-70
You can do Rush PQ from level 50-60. Since Glitch OPQ was patched, there aren't many active OPQ'ers. Just do Full PQ's for fun once in a while.
Ludibrium Maze PQ
Requires Level 50-70
Superb and fast exp. You will also get lots of scrolls and Mana Elixirs.
3rd Job Advancement
Once you get to level 70 (woot!), go to El Nath and talk to Robeira. She will send you on a mission to retrive the Necklace of Strength and the Necklace of Wisdom. Go back to Victoria Island and talk to Grendel. You must defeat his evil clone. Stock up on pots and holy waters and head to Forest of Evil II. Enter the Door of Dimension, go through the other portal, drop down, and fight. Teleport when Grendel attacks to nullify the damage, and drink holy waters when he seals you. When he summons Tauromacis, you can get rid of them or focus on Grendel. It should be an easy fight. Pick up the black charm, click on the crystal to get out. Talk to Grendel again to receive the Necklace of Strength.
Go back to El Nath with at least 1 refined Dark Crystal. Talk to Robeira again. Then go to Sharp Cliff II and press up at the wooden door in the corner. Drop down and talk to the stone. You must sacrifice a Dark Crystal to answer five questions about MapleStory. The questions should be easy, but if in doubt, search it up on the internet. If you get one question wrong, you will need another Dark Crystal. After answering the questions correctly, you will receive the necklace of Wisdom. Go back to Robeira to become a Mage. Yay!
Yay! Once you get this skillbook, you should definitely celebrate. With VERY flashy skills like Ice Strike, this skillbook will last you until 4th job.
The ultimate mob control attack. Freezes six monsters at once. At max level, 90 base attack (sad, lower than cold beam) and 200% range (Superb range. You can snipe monsters from many spots and not get hit at all.) Quite slow until you get Magic Booster.
Wowzers! 170 base attack! Used against lightning based monsters, this equals 255 base attack, which outstrips all of Fire Mage's attacks. The only drawback is that this skill is SUPER SLOW. It may take about 2 seconds to cast. Must have booster with this. Works wonders against Vikings.
This skill is half ice, half lightning. With 140 base attack, 70 is ice and 70 is lightning. Elemental advantages/disadvantages are calculated on each part, then are added together. This replaces ice as the single enemy attack, plus it freezes. Average speed.
A must get skill. Without this, a Viking may just come and crush you before you can even finish casting Thunder Spear. It also speeds up Ice Strike and Composition. You only need to put 11 points in this skill, because at 11 the speed boost changes to +2, the highest it will get. The rest of the points only adds time. Recasting it often may be annoying but the other 9 points are better off somewhere else.
+35% attack power, +100% MP usage. Sounds horrible, doesn't it? Double MP for barely half more the attack power? However, Mages are dominated by other classes in third job in terms of mass damage, and you must max this skill in order to match up to other classes. The double MP cost will be worth it. The higher the damage, the more you will notice the increase. For example, if you would normally do 3000 damage, you would do 4050 instead. That is quite good.
For a certain percentage of working, it stops the monsters from using skills for a certain amount of time.This skill is useful at many training areas, such as Vikings where you would prefer to use Thunder Spear, and Gobies where you have to kill the Houses first. The downside is that the chances of sealing are low when you don't have many points in it. The chances become reliable once it is maxed or near maxed.
What kind of Ice Mage would go hunting mosnters that are Ice elemental? The only use for this is if you plan to go Zakum and his ice/lightning attacks won't hurt you that much.
With Thunder Spear
1. Max Ice Strike
2. Amplification +3
3. Booster +11
4. Seal +1
5a. Max Amplification
5b. Max Composition
6. Max Thunder Spear
7. Put extra points in Seal, Booster, or Resistance as you wish
Without Thunder Spear
1. Max Ice Strike
2. Amplification +3
3. Booster +11
4. Seal +1
5a. Max Amplification
5b. Max Composition
6. Max Seal and/or Booster, stick leftover points into Resistance or 2nd job skills
Most people choose to max Ice Strike first due to its mobbing ability and superb range. It will replace Lightning as your mob attack, and doing this build will let you train at Death Teddies, Wolf Spiders, and Galloperas, some of the fastest training places.
Afterward, you will definitely need 11 Booster to help speed up Ice Strike. You need 3 points in Amplification to unlock it. 11 points in Booster are sufficient until later on. One early point in Seal helps quite a lot, especially when it comes to bombing Goby Houses.
Next, you can choose to either max Amplification or Composition. The first will be faster training because you will have higher damage. However, you would have to keep striking single monsters with Cold Beam. If you are seriously bored of it, then Composition should be maxed first. This will allow you to train at a larger variety of places.
If you choose to get Thunder Spear, then max it. If not, then don't put any points in it at all (One point would be fine if you just want to see the animation, but any more would be stretching it if you don't plan on maxing). Some people choose not to get Thunder Spear because the 4th job skill Chain Lightning renders it obsolete. Then, thirty points are spared out for anything else you might want to max. If you don't think you'll get as far as 4th job, and just want to go for fun, then go ahead and get Thunder Spear.
After Ice Strike, Composition, Amplification, and maybe Thunder Spear are maxed, the rest doesn't matter much. More points in Booster would deal with that annoyingly short duration, Element Resistance would help at Zakum, and a higher level of Seal would have a much higher chance of success. But you cannot max them all. If you skipped Thunder Spear, then there will be approximately enough points to max two.
70-75 are the main IL Mage Hell levels. Continue at any place you trained at level 65-70. At this time, you will feel like quitting, but don't. Once you grind your head off to 75, grats xD
Leafre: The Crossroad
A bunch of monsters weak to ice. Although this place is a huge pot burner, it can help you get out of Hell faster.
Herb Town Red-Nose Pirate Den 2
Once you step in the map, they will come and ambush you twenty at a time. Well, not really, but the spawn is incredible. Mainly, use Ice Strike to kill the giant mobs, and they spawn so fast that before you even finish with the entire mob, new monsters will spawn to make up for the mob members you already killed. So you get continuous exp. May burn pots even faster than Gryphons.
The Forgotten Path of Time
Ouch! With attacks doing more than 1k damage, this is the first training place where you WILL die in one hit without Magic Guard on. However, they give 1.3k experience, which is even more than anything before. They collect in fairly big mobs. Once you get the hang of it and know how to not die, this place becomes quite good training.
MesoGears Wolf Spider Cave
These little blighters have a very high touch damage, around 1600. But no magic attack. They are better exp than Death Teddies but there is a much higher risk of dying, because these things swarm all over the place and dont always stick to their own platforms. Lots of pot burn.
Leafre: Area of Red Kentaurus
They are weak to ice and give decent EXP. Similar to Bains. No safe sniping spots however, and to kill a mob you have to continually withstand the touch damages and the spears hurled at you. Very pot consuming. You can't really avoid them either because when you kill a few, more will immediately spawn (a lot of times on top of you). Also watch out for the annoying moles that pop out of the ground and stun you.
Zipangu Wan Wan Spa of Hell
They are like Death Teddies that are weak to ice, but are still stronger and do more damage. Good spawn, but only train here with maxed Ice Strike and some Booster. Be careful not to fall into the purple fog at the bottom.
Malaysia: Entrance to Spooky World
Tons of monsters spawn on the ground and on the top platform. On the sides of the map, there are middle platforms that do not spawn Gallopera. You can stand there and spam Ice Strike until your finger gets sore from holding down the key, because the more Gallopera immediately spawn when you kill some. They give 2500 exp each, which is quite a lot. The only cons of this training area is that it is difficult to loot drops, and it is really hard to find a channel, so try to party. You can gain up to 40% an hour or more depending on your damage and efficiency.
Dangerous Sea Gorge II
Whether or not you worked on Comp or Thunder Spear after Ice Strike, Squids are meant to be Ice Striked. If you find some lone ones floating off, kill them with Cold Beam because Squids are strong to Lightning. People will commonly recruit for Squid parties.
Warped Path of Time <4>/Twisted Time
Essentially the parallel of Squids, and it is your choice which one you want to train at. This one favors Lightning, but Vikings are big, the bottom is hard to clear, and it is easier to die. People will commonly recruit for Viking parties.
Weak to ice, gives decent exp during these levels.
Deep Sea Gorge II
They annoying fishies will rarely spawn alone. You must kill the houses first. Sadly, the houses are strong to ice, do not freeze, and have an annoying magic attack that is hard to avoid range of. This is where Seal comes in handy. After the Goby House is destroyed, kill the Gobies. They have incredibly low HP for their level, and no magic attack of themselves. They are aggressive and will swim to attack you. Gobies were the most popular training place before Leafre came out (and still is to some people).
Red Wyvern's Nest
They are weak to Ice, which makes it a great high level training place from 3rd job through 4th job.
Leafre: Destroyed Dragon Nest
A good high level training place. Jr Newties do a lot of damage, but they are also very slow. The exp is faster if you have several people on the map at the same time.
Himes (Dreamy Ghosts)
Encounter With the Buddha
This is like a Straw Target Dummy map. The Himes swarm all over on long flat map which has no safe spots for AFK'ing. Great exp as long as you can survive the continuous hits and high potion costs. Also, Black Crow may spawn at any time, kill you in one hit with his 8k attacks, and make the map unusable.
4th Job Advancement
You must be a hardcore Mapler to get to this level... Anyways, once you get to level 120, talk to your 3rd job instructor in El Nath to get recommended to the 4th job instructor. He/she will request that you get two special items: the Heroic Star and the Heroic Pendant. There are two ways to do this. These items can be hunted from Griffey and Manon. If you don't want to hunt for them, you can go to Leafre and talk to the Village Chief. He requests a scroll, which you can buy from the NPC on the 44th floor of Eos Tower for 10 million mesos. After giving him the scroll, he will give you both items. Go back to your 4th job instructor and he/she will advance you to the 4th and final job.
These are the most powerful skills you will ever get. Extremely flashy too.
All party members stats (str, dex, int, luk) will increase by 10% for a certain time. It can add quite a lot to your damage, and the higher the base stat the more will get added to it. Say you have 300 INT, casting Maple Warrior will increase it to 330.
Protects you from certain status inflictions, such as Horntail's Psycho. It can only be raised to level 1.
Reflects a portion of magical damage from a monster back. In some way, it is similar to warrior's Power Guard, but Mana Reflection will not reduce the damage done on you.
Attack without using Mana for 40 seconds, has a cooldown. You will probably want to cast this before using Blizzard, which will otherwise eat all your MP before you can say "the".
Charge up a mob attack, the longer you charge the more powerful the blast.
A mob skill that goes through multiple enemies in a line. It temporarily makes the monster weak to fire, which is where Ifrit comes handy.
A mob skill that goes through multiple enemies in a line. It is much better than Thunder Spear. The base damage is cut in half for every monster in the line. For example, if the first hit was 4000, five monsters behind it would receive near 2000, 1000, 500, 250, and 125.
Hits up to 15 monsters in a range spanning the entire screen. Use up a LOT of MP, it will probably all be gone in one cast. Putting on Infinity will allow you to spam Blizzard for 40 seconds, which is great (and maybe laggy).
Summon a fire elemental gollem to help in battle, deals massive damage when used with Ice Demon.
Mastery Books/Skillbook Quests and Info
Initially, you can only put 10 points into a 4th job skill, or you might not be able to put any points at all. By fighting bosses or completing skillquests, you can find mastery books which increase your point capacity to a certain level. Also, in order to begin certain quests, you will have to find a storybook. Here is info on where to obtain mastery books and storybooks.
Frozen Book of Ice Blue Kentaurus
Maple Warrior 10 Available immediately upon advancing to 4th job
Maple Warrior 20 Horntail
Maple Warrior 30 Pink Bean
Awakening/Hero's Will 1 Obtained after completing Chief Tatamos quest.
Big Bang 10 Available immediately upon advancing to 4th job
Big Bang 20 Dark Wyvern, Left Pianus
Big Bang 30 Right Pianus, Crimsonwood Keep Party Quest.
Infinity 10 El Nath PQ
Infinity 20 Papulatus
Infinity 30 Zakum3
Mana Reflection 10 Available immediately upon advancing to 4th job
Mana Reflection 20 Green Cornian, Dark Cornian, Zakum3, Left Pianus, Elderwraith
Mana Reflection 30 Right Pianus
Blizzard 10 Available from Quest (Obtained after completing Librarian Wizs Quest)
Blizzard 20 Zakum3
Blizzard 30 Horntail
Chain Lightning 10 Available immediately upon advancing to 4th job
Chain Lightning 20 Griffey, Risell Squid
Chain Lightning 30 Sharenian Guild Quest
Ice Demon 10 Available from Quest (Frozen Ice Storybook from the Blue Kentaurs)
Ice Demon 20 Shark, Griffey
Ice Demon 30 Papulatus
Ifrit 10 Available from Quest (Pre-Requisites: Already obtained the Ice Demon skill)
Ifrit 20 Jr. Newtie, Nest Golem, Blue Kentaurus, Crimson Guardian
Ifrit 30 Sharenian Guild Quest.
Credits to BBD
1. Blizzard +1
2. Max Maple Warrior
3. Max Blizzard
4. Max Chain Lightning
5. Hero's Will +1 (max)
6. *see below
7. Max Mana Reflection
8. Max Infinity
9. Max Big Bang
*Alternate adding points into Ifrit and Ice Demon until both are maxed. Ifrit takes slightly more priority.
This would used for the fastest leveling possible, spamming Blizzard at Newties, and eventually Skelegons. It's also EXTREMELY expensive, and I don't recommend it without having continuous access to Hyper Body or having a surplus of funds. By surplus I don't mean 100m or so. I mean 500m+ that you can dedicate solely to pot costs.
It's also contingent on skillbooks available to you (in Mardia, my server, this build would be impossible as Maple Hero 20 is still being handed out to the Horntail runners, and only one Blizzard 30 has ever dropped, then sold for 200m). Whatever the reason, the alteration of this would be: 1 Blizzard, 9 Maple Hero, 20 Blizzard, then proceed with the rest of the build until such a point you could actually raise Maple Hero or Blizzard with the skillbooks.
1. Blizzard +1, Chain Lightning +1, Big Bang +1 (have fun)
2. Maple Warrior +19
3. Mana Reflection +1
4. *see below
5. Max Chain Lightning
6. Ice Demon +4
7. Max Blizzard
8. **see below
9. Hero's Will +1
10. Max Ice Demon
11. Max Ifrit
12. +19 Mana Reflection
13. ***see below
14. Max Big Bang
15. Max Infinity
16. Maple Warrior +1
*Alternate adding Ice Demon and Ifrit until Ice Demon is 7 and Ifrit is 10
**Alternate adding Ice Demon and Ifrit until Ice Demon is 25 and Ifrit is 22
***Alternate adding Big Bang and Mana Reflection until Big Bang is 21 and Mana Reflection is max
Maple Warrior is not maxed until later on as its max stat gain is at level 19. Infinity is not put into later as when you are training at Newties, a few pots are worth the points it costs to max it out. Blizzard is not maxed immediately as it is too post costly until you start to max it out toward the end. Ice Demon and Ifrit are kept at their respective levels for a while for Ifrit would have reached a decent level so you wont have to keep recasting. Ice Demon freezes 3 enemies at that point, which is the amount that Ifrit hits with his attack. Chain Lightning is maxed early on as it is a quick attack that does good damage. 1 is put into Big Bang earlier as it is used to clear out the Newties (such as the ones behind you). Mana Reflection is pretty much for fun and for the usefulness of reflecting magic attacks, which helps at Newties and such.
1. Blizzard +1
2. Infinity +1
3. Ice Demon +7
4. Ifrit +10
5. Max Chain Lightning
6. Max Ifrit
7. Maple Warrior +9
8. Hero's WIll +1 (max)
9. Max Blizzard
10. Max Maple Warrior
11. Max Ice Demon
12. Max Big Bang
13. Max Mana Reflection
14. Max Infinity
This build is very cheap and skillbook lenient, but you'll need to knock off all your quests early. Grabbing 1 Blizzard is for fast training right out of the advancement, and training with one point Blizzard is easily affordable with Sky Nest II. 1 Infinity is for saving potions every 10 minutes when training with Blizzard, this will save 50 to 60 potions every hour (you'll be breezing through over 1000 Ginsengs.) 7 Ice Demon is then added because it hits 3 targets, adding a poison effect which layers nicely with Ice Strike and making them vulnerable to Ifrit - Ifrit adds 10k+ damage every 2 seconds to 3 monsters with Demon on them.
Ifrit is then raised to 10 for the mainly for the timer, and you may have a chance at KBing Pap with it. Ice Strike with Ice Demon and Ifrit can give you good, cheap training options though it will be slower than even 1 Blizzard. Then you max Chain Lightning, because the skillbooks are cheap and very available. Having Chain Lightning will increase training options further and will replace both Comp and TSpear everywhere in speed and damage, making it fantastic in bossing scenarios. Follow with finishing Ifrit and getting Maple Warrior to 9, for the extra damage while training and bossing, think Meditation and Elemental Amplification in 2nd and 3rd job respectively.
Don't get level 10 Maple Warrior just yet, it doesn't offer anything but a few seconds over level 9. Now you begin maxing Blizzard, both Blizzard 20 and 30 are fairly expensive, so be prepared to spend money and expect books to fail. During this time you'll want to evaluate your potential damage with various levels of Blizzard, because using higher levels of Blizzard will hurt your pot money and you want to make sure you can get good EXP for the money you're dishing out. Hero's Will can be added before, after, or during Blizzard.
The nature of 4th job (skillbooks and all that, and the fact that you can max all the skills) makes the skill paths very long, diverse, and confusing. Because I am not 4th job (and I never plan to get there), none of this section will be my work.
Skelegons and Skelesaurus
Jr Newties are good too, train in the map with no Nest Golems
Gallopera, if you have a good level of Blizzard, stand in the middle of the map and spam it
Any stuff you trained on from 110 to 120
There are really not a lot of new training spots for 4th job, you just have to do what you did in late 3rd job and have more patience. Most likely, you will stick with Skelegons and Skelesaurus in Leafre or spam at Galloperas forever.
People have been asking me about what level to cap LUK at. Considering that LUK is only required to wear equipment, you should cap your LUK at the amount of LUK required to wear your last piece of equipment. If you aren't going to use anything higher leveled than a Kage, cap at 88. If the Magicodar is going to be your last equipment, cap at 91. If you think you can get a Varr set, cap at 100. It all depends. When even higher leveled equipments come out, and you want it, you'll have to raise your LUK to wear it.
Lukless I/L Mages
Lukless mages do not keep their LUK three ahead of their level. Instead, all AP goes to INT. They attempt a stat roll of 13/4/4/4. Lukless mages do more damage than regular mages because of their higher INT, and also have higher magic accuracy and MP due to higher INT. The negative side of lukless mages are that they will lose a full 10% when they die, and that they cannot wear common mage equips.
Lukless mages should start with some beginner clothes from Lith Harbor and a scrolled Wooden Wand. Then, when they get to the required level, lukless mages make use of a godly scrolled Sauna Robe and a godly scrolled Lama/Nocturnal Staff. The hat of choice may vary. Due to this scrolling, lukless mages are hard to fund and making one is not recommended without funding.
Ice/Lightning mages who are lukless earn more benefits from mob skills like Lightning, because the extra damage is applied to all six monsters. As a result of the higher damage, lukless Ice/Lightning mages train faster than any type of mage in 2nd job.
Lukless IL should train at the exact same places as regular IL, but starting a few levels earilier than the levels mentioned.
Q: I don't understand the way you write skill builds. Why don't you just write it the way everyone else does?
A: Most skill builds are written in the form of where you should spend your points every single level. This wastes a lot of space because every level would take up one line. My skill builds are written in a more compact way. It simply lists the order in which you should put points into the skills. Instead of writing "Level X: +3 Cold Beam" ten times in a row, I write "1. +30 Cold Beam". My skill build format is also the reason the guide appears not very long.
Q: Some guides are telling me to save points after I have half-maxed Cold Beam, Lightning, or whatever else. Why? Should I do this?
A: The MP cost of the skill would double immediately from 10 to 11 points. Therefore, most people chose to save the points and then add them all later, so as to not go poor quickly because of the double MP cost. If you have enough money you can choose not to do this.
Q: What is the difference between Magic Guard and Magic Armour? Which one is good?
A: Magic Guard takes a percentage of damage to your HP and transfers it to your MP. At max is 80% transfer. For example, if you are hit 1000 damage, your HP would take 200 and your MP would take 800. Magic Armour boosts you up a certain amount of weapon defense, max is 40. If you are hit 1000 damage, your HP would still take like 970. When training at dangerous high level places like Death Teddies (which do a bit more than 1000 damage), you must have Magic Guard or else you would die in one hit. The damage to MP is no problem as mages have tons of MP. Choose Magic Guard or else you have absolutely no future over 60.
Q: Aggh! I put too many points in Energy Bolt! What should I do?
A: If you can't afford SP Reset, just keep using the weakened Magic Claw. It doesn't matter anymore after you get Ice/Lightning as main attacks. However, if you messed up badly and put more than 5 points in Energy Bolt, might as well become a Bolt Mage and be unique.
Q: I still havn't found [rare item] from [monster renowned for dropping rare item] yet!
A: Either you are impatient, or just unlucky. There is no way to help this.
Q: Should I max Slow or MP Eater?
A: It is really up to you. Slow will save you pots and is good for controlling those pesky freeze-resistant monsters. MP Eater will save you a lot of MP pots when maxed. Some people max Slow because it has a cool animation, and is noticeable.
Q: Why not to max Thunder Spear first? It looks awesome.
A: Most people don't choose to max Thunder Spear first because it is slow. It only works well with Booster. It lets you train at the same spots as if you maxed Comp first, but the attack is slow and non-freezing. Still, if you want Thunder Spear first you can. It's not as big a no-no as not having Magic Guard.
Q: I keep dying at [high level training place], what should I do?
A: First of all, always watch your Magic Guard. Recast it as long as you have time to. It is a bad habit to wait until Magic Guard starts blinking. At high levels, I recommend that you use White Pots and Sorcerer Elixirs (from NLC, station a mule there). You can then use Grilled Cheese if White Pot isn't fast enough.
Q: What's the difference between staves* and wands? Is one faster or stronger?
A: The only difference is that one is long and one is short. They cast at exactly the same speed. There is only one exception: F/P Mage's Explosion is the only skill whose casting speed is affected by the weapon speed. Neither staves nor wands are stronger, because the intervals of their level requirements are staggered. New staves can be equipped at lv 45, 55, 65, 75, and 85, and new wands can be equipped at lv 48, 58, 68, 78, and 88. Therefore wands do seem to be more powerful than their corresponding staves, but they have a higher level requirement. There is nothing to compare.
*Staves is a plural form of staff, only when referring to "a magical stick" and not "a body of employees". A staff can also be directly called a stave. I did not misspell anything.
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Any questions or corrections,
or post. I will look into it as soon as possible.
Hidden-Street for most technical information.
BasilMarket for posting this guide and being an awesome site.
Sleepywood Forums for some more not-obvious information and as for now most 4th job related things.
Wizet and Nexon for making MapleStory exist.
WICKEDfiyero, RKAddict, Luckstriker, Squeek, and Minrad for helping me with my mage and inspiring me along the way.
Me for making this guide.
BasilID compymasax / IGN compymasax (Broa)
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