How to fight knights as a mage, i.e. with sorcery

[Charlemagne]

I can deal with most mobs, I can deal with most bosses (a few have me stuck like the Fire Giant and Rykard) but I just can't beat knights (except the easy ones in Limgrave). Especially those monsters in Leyndell or Haligtree. They are practically immune to magic with that shield. Even sorceries that can hit them from behind like Ambush shard, which bring down soldiers and Limgrave knights in two or three stokes, barely scratch them. When I finally manage to do them some damage, they heal. I run out of mana. What can be the mage's option for this?
(Note: Melee is out of the question. I die in 3 seconds when I try to melee with them. And don't even mention parry. Parry?? Ha ha ha...)

[Old Captain Yon]

You DONT melee them as mage, unless you go bonking with Havel of Haima. Best spell for shielded ones is either Spiral shard, or Ambush shard bc it ignores shields. Greatsword spells are fine but require spacing. Loretta bow is veeeery good but you must kill them from afar before they aggro. If you have DLC try Microcosm and Gravity Bomb spell, they are good too.

[IGSXXV]

Originally posted by vamirez:

Originally posted by IGSXXIV:

"I die in 3 seconds when I try to melee with them" with means glass canon build, this spell is one of the slowest of the game even when not charged and Comet, a faster spell, has better damage. But of course if you like the animation have fun.

But you are aware that you can literally snipe enemies with the greatbow spell from far away, and they don't even reach you before they die? The comet is also great to melt down some of the knight enemies, but requires you to be much closer.

You answered me no the other way around, if you don't want arguments just don't start a conversation. And why are you offended?? If you like to use the spell, use it. It is useful but has limitations that others do not have, so it is one of the worst magic spells.

[vamirez]

Originally posted by IGSXXIV:

Originally posted by vamirez:

But you are aware that you can literally snipe enemies with the greatbow spell from far away, and they don't even reach you before they die? The comet is also great to melt down some of the knight enemies, but requires you to be much closer.

You answered me no the other way around, if you don't want arguments just don't start a conversation. And why are you offended?? If you like to use the spell, use it. It is useful but has limitations that others do not have, so it is one of the worst magic spells.

I answered? Let me quote this...

Originally posted by IGSXXIV:

Originally posted by vamirez:

You can snipe them from far away with the greatbow spell :)

And ignore that troll advice one of the worst spells in the game.

[IGSXXV]

I think the OP is not going to anwer so I just unsuscribe. Don't have that time to small talk.

[mono_sloth]

Carian Greatsword or Adula's Moonblade will be your best melee spells for any knight, keep in mind timing your dodges and you'll be fine.

For far away sniping, I'd say uses Loretta's Greatbow with Arrow's Reach Talisman to extend the snipe range even further.

[Lynfinity]

Originally posted by IGSXXIV:

Don't have that time to small talk.

- He said, while arguing on a videogame discussion board that a certain spell is one of the worst and the person who suggested using it is a troll.

[Charlemagne]

Spells like Carian Greatsword are no good for me because they involve (gasp) melee. I totally suck at melee. Well not totally, I can fight with your ordinary soldier or skeleton, but knights and bosses, oh no, bad medicine. I will roll away from their first attack and then they hit me anyway with a second attack.
Sniping with spells like Loretta's is good, when you can snipe. Requiring a comfortable distance. In the typical situation I can get one good shot before the knight closes in.
I haven't tried spiral, maybe that will work.

[Amins]

Sorry, but you really should get used to incorporating melee magic into your mage build. Carian Slicer is all you really need, but it's a beast of a spell. Incredibly fast attack rate, extremely powerful, and does a surprisingly large amount of stance damage and can stunlock a lot of enemy types and even bosses. And it costs next to nothing in mana. It's pretty much mandatory for a lot of these enemies that turtle behind a shield or dodge all of your ranged shots.

Or, I guess you could pelt them with Rock Sling and break their guards. But that would be highly inefficient and cost a lot of FP.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by Amins:

Sorry, but you really should get used to incorporating melee magic into your mage build. Carian Slicer is all you really need, but it's a beast of a spell. Incredibly fast attack rate, extremely powerful, and does a surprisingly large amount of stance damage and can stunlock a lot of enemy types and even bosses. And it costs next to nothing in mana. It's pretty much mandatory for a lot of these enemies that turtle behind a shield or dodge all of your ranged shots.

Or, I guess you could pelt them with Rock Sling and break their guards. But that would be highly inefficient and cost a lot of FP.

Yep I've tried carian slicer and greatsword. Usually the knight kills me before I even get in the first swing.
I just tried spiral whatever. It does very little damage to these knights. I guess these tanks are meant to only be beaten with melee.

[mono_sloth]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

Originally posted by Amins:

Sorry, but you really should get used to incorporating melee magic into your mage build. Carian Slicer is all you really need, but it's a beast of a spell. Incredibly fast attack rate, extremely powerful, and does a surprisingly large amount of stance damage and can stunlock a lot of enemy types and even bosses. And it costs next to nothing in mana. It's pretty much mandatory for a lot of these enemies that turtle behind a shield or dodge all of your ranged shots.

Or, I guess you could pelt them with Rock Sling and break their guards. But that would be highly inefficient and cost a lot of FP.

Yep I've tried carian slicer and greatsword. Usually the knight kills me before I even get in the first swing.
I just tried spiral whatever. It does very little damage to these knights. I guess these tanks are meant to only be beaten with melee.

300+ hours in and I still get my ass kicked by the knights lol. Usually I run and avoid most of them as a mage lol. when you're over-leveled, using melee spells is much more feasible.

[ebolaisamongus]

Night sorceries like Night Maiden's Mist, Ambush Shard, and Night Shard ignore guarding. Most of these can be learned from Gowry after you give Miliicent the gold needle.

Glintstone Icecrag also is good against shielded enemies because of the frost build up, low cast time, and low FP cost. The frost staggers enemies providing a good time to alpha strike them. The low cast time also makes it great to punish enemies who try to heal.

[Charlemagne]

The spells that ignore guarding cause such low damage. You barely can see the health bar go down with every hit. I'll try the frost spell but I'm losing hope.
I can kill knights without shields, I'm not going to say easily but quite manageably, for example those with only a greatsword, two swords or a bow. I barrage them with Comet. I was having a nightmare with Niall until I discovered how easily I could take out the two-sword guy. But these shielded tanks that on top of all use spells and heal fully, well...

[Charlemagne]

Oh and another thing, those guys RUN and they don't stay still. They don't leave you a chance to do anything. I would fight a boss rather than one of these knights.

[impuretrash2878]

its a good idea for even mages to git gud using a weapon. I'd suggest using the claymore then upgrading to the moonlight sword later when you get it. A big sword like that and a couple jumping attacks. Those knights won't know what hit them.

[Sc0rpiTr0n]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

Oh and another thing, those guys RUN and they don't stay still. They don't leave you a chance to do anything. I would fight a boss rather than one of these knights.

It would help if you post your stats.

But unless you have 10 Vigor, 8 Strength and 8 Dexterity
you should be able to bash them with two handed cold greathammer or greatsword.

Especially when you combine them with Ashes of War
like Chilling Mist, Giant Hunt and Piercing Fang/Impaling Thrust.