Skills/Professions guide?

[MysticDaedra]

TBH, I'm surprised that this game doesn't have more guides, overdue imo. Hopefully more people with a good handle on the game can contribute at some point.

To my question: any info or recommendations on the various skills and classes/professions? I'm referring to things like Geyserbolt Arcanist and Abyss Conjurer. There are obviously reasons why one might choose to level up their initiates with these skills, but they don't seem readily apparent. I wish more info was given on tooltips than is currently, like for example which elements contribute to which tasks etc.

So... suggestions? Tier list? Guide? :)

[MysticDaedra]

[UltiBand]

Nah, MoM is the most chill base builder I've seen, if you're not playing Relentless Mode. You can try everything out by yourself, destroy everything and re-build once again without any consequences except time spent. I'd recommend you to play the game in your own pace, there's no good tierlists. Finding new mage combos is the funniest part of the gameplay. There is only two undeniably powerful things in the game - Vivified Earth Mage and Raven Cult Air Mage (the latter cannot be picked as starting mage and becomes pain in the s on Relentless Mode).

People often argue about different mage types, I haven't seen one complete opinion on class effectiveness which cannot be argued. It's all about possibilities and adaptation.

[Dedmoin]

The game tells you what tasks has what requirements on skill level and element.

I am not aware of any specific meaning of those professions as you call them.
Based on the absent of description saying otherwise, those skill combination are primarily used to increase level cap and what type of tasks those persons can do.

eg pure nature mage can reach highest level and can use skills otherwise locked. S/he is the best some can find to do nature tasks. But s/he sucks in everything else.

eg nature/earth mage has lower level cap and won't be able to use certain skills or artifacts. However, s/he will be able to fully use their time by doing nature and earth related tasks.

The other advantage is to combine combat skills.
So if you want to have an air mage for doing tasks but s/he sucks in combat, you can add fire element and becomes more usefull in combat.
(I think fire mage don't have many fire related tasks to do anyways, so pushing the mage in another element adds additional value)

[ulzgoroth]

One thing I've recently gotten into is having two wind characters, preferably strong enough to cast haste 2 and one of them fast. Put them in separate rows, have them haste the entire team at the start of battle.

...The game extensively communicates which elements contribute to which tasks. Maybe not in every single place you would want it at a glance, but you can open the priorities screen whenever you need a quick review.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by Dedmoin:

The game tells you what tasks has what requirements on skill level and element.

I am not aware of any specific meaning of those professions as you call them.
Based on the absent of description saying otherwise, those skill combination are primarily used to increase level cap and what type of tasks those persons can do.

eg pure nature mage can reach highest level and can use skills otherwise locked. S/he is the best some can find to do nature tasks. But s/he sucks in everything else.

eg nature/earth mage has lower level cap and won't be able to use certain skills or artifacts. However, s/he will be able to fully use their time by doing nature and earth related tasks.

The other advantage is to combine combat skills.
So if you want to have an air mage for doing tasks but s/he sucks in combat, you can add fire element and becomes more usefull in combat.
(I think fire mage don't have many fire related tasks to do anyways, so pushing the mage in another element adds additional value)

Nature/Earth with a level 3 wand will have 7 nature, which means you can add an appropriate relic to get to 8 nature.

The different pairings actually have some odd texture. Mancers have their extra ultimate cast thing. Adjancent pairs have the 'by far highest total skill' thing with +4 total, but no special. IIRC the 2-off pairings seem to always give a bonus relic slot for the new element and the 3-offs give unique bonuses.

I'm not sure how good the unique bonus fit is, but nature/air giving buff duration does work pretty nicely with the spell sets.

[n3mes1s]

Originally posted by MysticDaedra:

TBH, I'm surprised that this game doesn't have more guides

lol, because an extensive CODEX within the game is not enough... :p

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by n3mes1s:

Originally posted by MysticDaedra:

TBH, I'm surprised that this game doesn't have more guides

lol, because an extensive CODEX within the game is not enough... :p

There's a lot of questions unanswered, really, even before you get into the proper territory of guides carrying strategic suggestions rather than just facts you should know.

[Philtre]

Originally posted by MysticDaedra:

I wish more info was given on tooltips than is currently, like for example which elements contribute to which tasks etc.

The easiest way to check the elements/tasks relationship is to open the Priorities menu and look along the top.

The fine details of the special abilities you get from apprenticing into different combinations is mainly relevant to combat. If you don't plan to use that mage in your combat team(s), look at how high you can get their secondary element relative to the skill thresholds necessary for specific tasks (eg, the most advanced alchemy recipes require level 6 water), or just pick whatever you need more of around the school. Just be careful of lowering any skill to 0, because they will be completely unable to do the tasks corresponding to that skill.

For combat mages, it's hard to give hard-and-fast advice on particular combinations because it will depend on how you prefer to play combat encounters, and the circumstances of the specific mage. For instance, it's probably not worth giving a power-scaling ultimate to a mage with a low power stat, or high-mana-cost skills to a mage with a low mana pool, unless you have the right relics to compensate.

[Naecabon]

Originally posted by MysticDaedra:

TBH, I'm surprised that this game doesn't have more guides, overdue imo. Hopefully more people with a good handle on the game can contribute at some point.

To my question: any info or recommendations on the various skills and classes/professions? I'm referring to things like Geyserbolt Arcanist and Abyss Conjurer. There are obviously reasons why one might choose to level up their initiates with these skills, but they don't seem readily apparent. I wish more info was given on tooltips than is currently, like for example which elements contribute to which tasks etc.

So... suggestions? Tier list? Guide? :)

I can't think of many OFFENSIVE purposes to Geyserbolt, but I can say it makes for a decent Alchemist.

One of the problems with Alchemists that main Water primary is they want to be around people, but Alchemy is a rather solitary profession. Mid to End game you'll be crafting a decent amount of potions and they end up kind of like the Researcher in doing their own thing; this is counter productive to keeping them around people for their wand perk.

In comes the Dark/Water hybrid: now you can satisfy the Dark Wand night perk by having the mage work on Alchemy through the night. They only need 6 Water to craft the highest tier Alchemy reagents and they can sit in the basking moonlight of a large window while they do it. Win win, they get to work at night with purpose and your team wakes up with their boxes full of potions.

Wand specialty requirements are important to work around. Right now I have my Water main not working on Alchemy, but rather as the main Apprentice Teacher - he is in a room with all the students most of the day so he gains his required group bonus. I keep only one Fire Mage main for Cooking but I have my Water Mage as a Fire backup (the Fire/Water combo is INSANE offensively fwiw) so he can help in the kitchen while the kids are on class break without fighting the Fire mage for his kills. (When you have more than one Fire mage, usually one will end up clearing out the pens and the other will get mad there's nothing to kill, so while it's fine to have backup hybrid fires for assistance on Hunting / Cooking its usually my preferred style to only have the one Fire main)

Personally my favorite hybrid combos are currently:

Shattered Dark/Nature - This is the ultimate groundskeeper. Works at night and fills the Wards, is immune to Spore Rash and being bound by Tanglevines as a Shattered so he can clear the Unstables/Vines/Spores without issue by only needing 4 Nature to do it. Not a combat combo but purely for the functionality it provides the school.

Water/Fire - the triple crit damage is for ALL of your crits, do not let the text mislead you. It kind of words like the water skills are what benefit from the 3X, this is incorrect. As a Steam Sorcerer ALL. OF. YOUR. CRITS. hit for 3X. You can set up MEGA combos with this, such as a teammate buffing your mage with the guaranteed crit buff in to Flame Lash for a mega whammo slam well over 1K-2k+ in endgame. The Ultimate itself critting can also be powerful, and if you get the 8/8 combo you also have one of the most powerful AOE nukes in Tsunami which ALSO heals your team to boot. For raw damage, this combo is THE powerhouse. I usually put this on Ravens for the S Rank ATK and shoot for a B minimum mana; my Fire mage is currently A Mana S ATK and just pumps enemies.

Earth / Nature OR Earth / Water - Earth in general is powerful just straight up because of the crazy tank Ultimate, but I like pairing it with nature as it gives me the full board control of swapping around enemies as needed and giving me different versions of AOE. I tend to put this on a Wolf with A/A Speed/ATK, or a Raven with A/S ATK and Speed from Relics. As Nature, Mana is less important since Swirling Vines isn't very mana intensive, but if you go Earth / Water the Mana becomes relevant because Flow and Tsunami are a bit more costly. Earth / Water is a strong offensive-defensive option and can hold the front lines even as a Wolf; by having the Speed to take a quick attack, you can offset a lot of damage with the Mudslide armor bonus. My frontline 90% of the time is both an Earth / Nature and Earth / Water setup - the Earth/Nature is a Wolf that always has first action and casts the Ultimate to tank, my Earth / Water casts a Quake or Tsunami and gets a free armor boost to soak any incidental front line AOEs while the other Earth tanks. They just spam Quake or what have you while my backline is just bombing them.

Honorable mention - Wolf Tempest Conjurer. This is a sneaky strong build that can do a lot of things; the high speed means it will take an early action and can either a) shield your team, b) haste your team, c) AOE nuke the opposing team or d) single target slam a target with Tornado. Also being wolf your Speed/ATK will be high providing a lot of extra damage on your Lightning skills; the shields provided from Air can offset the low HP and make Tornado a real I-Win button.

I've used these to crush most of the game and they are very fun to play with.

[Naecabon]

One more honorable mention - Dark/Lightning Deathcurrent Sorcerer.

As a backline support, if you use Relic loadouts to set your Speed on your team correctly, you can have this pair with a Steam Sorcerer for outrageously high combo damage. Inspiration by nature is a non-attack skill which triggers the 1.5X incoming damage while simultaneously guaranteeing a crit, in addition to providing 30 Speed which can help offset the slower nature of a Raven Steam Sorc by default to make sure they do not go last. It is a crazy strong support build if designed right. Inspiration in to Tsunami can immediately hit the opposing team with a full 1K+ Damage full shot AOE. Its nuts.

[ulzgoroth]

In combat, nature/wind is a nice one stop buff shop build. Good for a human who has loads of mana to throw at things - their lacking innate power means the attack potential of wind magic is likely a bit wasted, but they'll spend many of their actions laying down haste, shield, and empowerment anyway.

[Naecabon]

One more combo to note - there's a case use for Humans and it's not Fire.

Air / Lightning zDPS Human is very strong. High Mana to keep spam casting AOE Haste / AOE Shields / Crit Buff twice a round without stopping. They never attack so their damage doesn't matter. Just slap a Speed Relic on them and go to town!