how do you kill stuff, as a mage?

[Sky]

question: stash all my Pots of Mana for DL70+ ?? will i cry bitter tears if i use these as i go along?

[Estie]

Carry them, dont use the last one unless its an emergency, otherwise just use to down high value targets.

[Pete Mack]

@sky--
You can afford to use them sparingly, but only for very good targets (Mim, Smaug, etc.) They are a lot like !Heal.

[Derakon]

question: stash all my Pots of Mana for DL70+ ?? will i cry bitter tears if i use these as i go along?

They aren't super-rare, so it's worth carrying some for use in an emergency, but you'll also want to save some for the endgame. 10 is more than enough for the last fights, and always IMO err on the side of carrying more rather than stashing more.

[kandrc]

Wands of Magic Missile and Stinking Cloud can be surprisingly helpful for killing things before you have much mana.

Wands of Wonder are also great on weaker orc uniques, Wormtongue, etc. Later than that, and the expected damage is just too low for them to be useful.

As long as I have a reliable escape, I'll face, say, Wormtongue, even with a level 5 or 6 mage (I won't expect to reliably be able to kill him with spells until level 11 or so). With a full wand of wonder, I'll probably end up healing him, hastening him, hitting him with something weak a few times, but then I get him with something that drops him down to 1 or two stars and I finish him with MM while he runs away. Same deal with orc uniques, Broda... I don't start squelching Wonder until level 18, 19, something like that.

[luneya]

At higher levels, Wonder becomes amusing though not ideal; it has a significant chance of acting as *Destruction*.

But yeah, wands are key for mages. In the early game, the only way to deal with more than a couple monsters at a time is to use wands to supplement your offensive spells. (Missile weapons or thrown potions are the backup plan if you don't have any offensive wands, but for a mage these miss far too often.)

Mid-game you have lesser recharging. Magic missile and stinking cloud aren't useful anymore, but a wand of fire/ice/lightning/acid bolt gives you several free shots at higher damage than you'd get simply casting the spells (due to the magic device modifier), and you can recharge it when you're resting for SP after the fight. The rod versions of these are really nice if you can get a stack of them, but inventory space (and weight) is an issue, so it's not necessarily worth trying.

In the late game, you should have greater recharging, which will let you safely use and recharge higher-level attack wands. Against vulnerable monsters, the various "dragon" wands are your best area-effect option. Wand of annihilation is the strongest attack in the game for a mage against foes that are susceptible to it. Both Sauron and Morgoth fall into this category, so most players save annihilation for them rather than using it earlier and risking a recharge fail.

[Sky]

well, i found a ridiculously out of depth Broadsword of Extra Attacks <+2> which is now my main at 70 dps.

i'm thinking, if it were not better, to build a warrior, stat-wise (high str and dex, low int and con) and basically just play a really bad warrior for the first few CL, until the pots of stat start flowing. Add a couple rings of str (+2) and there you have it, your 3-blows mage.

[bio_hazard]

It can be kind of a pain to juggle them, but the elemental rings pack a pretty good punch. I wouldn't wear them over =mouse when just running through the dungeon but =lightning/acid aren't resisted by much can take a few stars off a lot of monsters, and a lot of things are cold/fire vulnerable. It's a pain to swap with =int though since you will lose mana.

You'll have to remember to charge them back up then swap back to =mouse or whatever other ring you are wearing.

[Derakon]

well, i found a ridiculously out of depth Broadsword of Extra Attacks <+2> which is now my main at 70 dps.

i'm thinking, if it were not better, to build a warrior, stat-wise (high str and dex, low int and con) and basically just play a really bad warrior for the first few CL, until the pots of stat start flowing. Add a couple rings of str (+2) and there you have it, your 3-blows mage.

Mages really do not belong in melee at the start of the game. They have no HP and awful STR, which in turn really limits not just their damage output but their ability to wear armor.

Instead I'd advise spending your starting cash on book 2 and a wand of magic missile. Between those two you shouldn't have any trouble making it to clvl10 at least.

[Pete Mack]

Bookless mage is a classic challenge character, but I don't recommend it as a strategy.

well, i found a ridiculously out of depth Broadsword of Extra Attacks <+2> which is now my main at 70 dps.

i'm thinking, if it were not better, to build a warrior, stat-wise (high str and dex, low int and con) and basically just play a really bad warrior for the first few CL, until the pots of stat start flowing. Add a couple rings of str (+2) and there you have it, your 3-blows mage.

[Estie]

well, i found a ridiculously out of depth Broadsword of Extra Attacks <+2> which is now my main at 70 dps.

i'm thinking, if it were not better, to build a warrior, stat-wise (high str and dex, low int and con) and basically just play a really bad warrior for the first few CL, until the pots of stat start flowing. Add a couple rings of str (+2) and there you have it, your 3-blows mage.

With that sword, you can do that, but you cant expect to find an extra attack weapon early every game, and thats the only modifier on weapons that actually makes mages halfdecent at melee.
What you describe is the standard way to start hybrids - get warrior stats and only use books later.

Early game, mages really have no problems killing things; only in midgame they fall behind. I wonder, are you using macros to target/cast spells at monsters ? With good macros mage plays fluently and you shouldnt feel any desire to use melee.
Or maybe you are killing everything you encounter; some things it is best to avoid if possible, like large hordes of orcs/trolls etc.

[bio_hazard]

Or maybe you are killing everything you encounter; some things it is best to avoid if possible, like large hordes of orcs/trolls etc.

This is a big one- get an idea of how much damage you can do with your mana pool (don't forget to add in some spell failures). Very early on your stealth may not be good enough to just pick them off one by one while resting up in between. Of course the ideal battlefield will be a long corridor where you can toast everyone with a few lightning bolts.

[Pete Mack]

better still, get deep enough to get experience from young and mature dragons.

[Derakon]

Before you can tackle dragons, lines of orcs/trolls can easily be killed with Wands of Light. The Spear of Light spell is kind of overpriced SP-wise but Wands of Light are plentiful and can really do a lot of damage to vulnerable group enemies.

[bio_hazard]

Agreed- the older d dragons aren't trivial- if I actually manage a quick dive down to the dl30-is area, I probably won't have the resist and I'll have only ~100hp. If I can hit it with something pretty powerful before it wakes up I may take one on, but if there's other stuff in the room that might wake it up or get in my way I'm likely to pass, especially for a mature dragon.