Build pure mage or warrior with some magic?

[Endgamecutter]

So I came into this game expecting to use magic...a lot more than I am. I put my first points into Flame Candle, Heal and Telekinesis. Of these...I occasionally find an oil flask to throw at someone to set them on fire and proceed to use my unleveled sword to fight most of my battles. I went in wanting to use magic it just seems so much less practical then stabbing people. Even Telekinesis seems superfluous in the face of just picking up the object and throwing it manually.

I'm debating saving Skill Points to go for the improved mana regen so I can actually afford to spam my spells, but I feel like it's probably smarter to just...put those points into my sword, which is actually getting stuff done, and keep my few spells around as a bag of tricks when needed (that will likely never get used.)

What would the rest of you advise? Is it feasible to go straight for regen to get more magic action, or should I just be a swordsman?

[Troshnak]

Do you have the Charm spell? I just finished a magic playthrough a few hours ago and found it very helpful. While my enemies were distracted by my ally I was kicking them into spikes and knocking them over with thrown objects.

If you take the mana regeneration skill it does improve your regeneration greatly, but I found so many mana potions and mushrooms that I never had to wait before a fight.

[Blue Lightning]

I try to avoid the Charm spell, it makes it easy. But sancurary is by far the best spell...but makes it really easy too.
But you can have some magic and some of everything else like archer skills, thief/assasian skills. Or you can have a lot of a few things and a little of others. There's like 100 different combos to try, that's why replay value is so high.

Have you tried being a swordmen and also collect the strongest armor? I know it sounds boring, but I spent a lot on armor and it took a while...but got the top armor and could take hits even from Ghouls. It's well worth it :)

[Endgamecutter]

actually...how many points do I need to spend to get mana regeneration? Like, do I just need one rank in the mana boost skill, or would it be a long term goal that could take most of the game to learn?

[Elthrael]

I finished a magic playthrough a while ago and it was a blast, when you get the mana-sucking staff and Sanctuary you are literally invincible all the time. I know it's more of a battlemage maybe, but still, I used lightning and fireball a lot and it was awesome. But, like all mage builds, you're a bit squishy/puny getting up to that point. Just don't do the worst thing people do when attempting a mage build - spend points in anything else. I know it sounds crazy, but try and stick with magic until the bitter end, it's worth it in the end. Besides, if all else fails, there's always... the kick :D

[Blue Lightning]

I agree...I did the magic thing and got all the spells, Arcane robe, and went to the end. The middle of the game was difficult, but the last 4th of the game it got easy because of the staff and sancurary, like you said.

try the pure warrior thing...top armor and all the swords. I think you might like it :)

[Endgamecutter]

Weather update: currently on the ship level. Have yet to spend skill points because I thought I might be able to get mana regen early to fuel magic, seeing as flame candle can't even kill one swordsman chaining full auto with my 50 mana thus far.

Flame Candle is trash unless I ahve oil which is unreliable. Heal is...probably better then I give it credit for. Telekinesis is the only spell that seems to do anything, simply because it's a faster throw that lets you see what you're aiming at. Have solved most problems with much greater efficiency using a basic shortsword...When does the magic payoff happen? I'm pretty sure at this point I'm going to grab Freeze and just keep magic as a backpocket utility while I upgrade my sword and use that instead, seeing as it actually hurts things... Am I just magicking wrong? I feel like there's a certain strategy to this that I'm just...missing.

[Blue Lightning]

Well...you have to use the magic in a way that kills. Like using freeze to make a frozen puddle so they slip and fall off the cliff, or into spikes. Or using lightning when they are in water. Or throwing oil on them and then using fire to light them up. You have to get creative and it requires that you set it up for the kill, whereas with swordplay it's more a straight ahead fight.

[Blue Lightning]

Remember, when you have adreneline shot, THEN magic kills, directly. And Flame candle is a good way to build adreniline fast.

[Endgamecutter]

so basically...I was right. Magic is incredibly situational and better used as a supplement to a sword rather then a main tool?

[Blue Lightning]

Well yes and no. They cleverly set it up so if you choose magic and only buy spells, you have to think differently to kill enemies, than the tradtional warrior sword fight, or stealth dagger kills. That makes magic-only a fun challenge in it's own way...it forces a whole different set of stratagies. Yet, you can do the old "one two" (refrencing Bioshock), "just zap em and whack em" lol. So you freeze them then follow up with a sword to impale...or you use Charm on one, then you can get close and whack him with a sword, that kind of thing. Probably most people use the old one two when using magic.

[Endgamecutter]

weather update: I'm in the temple of the zombies and tried to give magic another chance after watching what all the spells did online. Build is now Combat 2, mana 2, Telekinesis, Candle, Heal, Freeze, Lightning and Inferno. My regrets run deep. I feel like the best way to illustrate this is to compare how I fight a basic zombie with my magic compared to how I fight it with my lightning daggers.

Magic: Alright, hopefully there's a rock handy so I can burn a bunch of mana to knock it down and finish it with a stab... Lightning is useless on anything not in water, there's no oil so candle is worthless and Inferno...I'm not even sure it'll kill it before I burn through all my mana. Let's hope I don't get blindsided when looking for rocks since I die in one hit.

Melee (not that this is the same build, just going pure knives) *power attack* *power attack* *power attack* *impale* wow, that was easy. I wonder how much faster that would've been if I could use the Earthfire Sword taking space in my inventory...

I'm debating finding a way to reset my skills to grab the few useful spells (so...Freeze, Heal and Telekinesis basically) and just going full sword or toughing it out and seeing if it gets any better. Maybe it's just that I don't know how to utilize my arsenal effectively or I just chose bad spells, but if a couple points into basic combat can vastly outperform an entire build of magic then why did I level my magic in the first place? (beyond the hilarity of watching people trip on ice patches)

[Blue Lightning]

You will always have at least basic weapons you can use and still keep the spells. If you are a skilled player, you should be able to get through the game with just a short sword lol. if not, you will find it a great challenge to try and do so!

my regrets about full mage went away in the later levels. As said, once you have sancurary, it's game over!

[League of Legends]

Really I invested a good amount into Melee combat but most into getting all spells along with mana regen. I maxed out that dmg tree side then went for the more interesting and less direct side Sanctuary, telekinesis, charm, and etc. have to say it’s quite fun mana regens relatively fast might need to take one potion inferno kills everything before it can hit you besides some things... but I would insist you to continue going down the tree branch of magic with the telekinesis, heal, charm, sanctuary, and weaken branch. While upgrading skill points to use shields and bigger better weapons. Because you can be easily 2 hit in this game and one slip up with an already damaged character or with multiple enemies could spell death for you. Overall great game and as soon as I finish I’m replaying a full knight or full stealth. Ye flame arrow sucks until the enemies use it for some reason.

[Endgamecutter]

Weather update: we're in the casa de necromancer and have finally achieved mana regen. Unfortunately, magic is still magic.

Having access to theoretically infinite mana has allowed me to be much more liberal with my usage of inferno, so I found out that it at least can kill things...assuming the starts align correctly that day. As it turns out, a spell that blinds you when you use it can be rather problematic. Especially when the stupid janitors block the fire so you don't actually hurt the enemies and they one shot you once you try and reassess teh situation. At this point fights mostly boil down to charm someone and hide in a corner until the spell wears off, using freeze if anything breaks off of the fight. It's the closest thing to a reliable method I have. as for my other new spells:

Inferno as I've stated is sometimes useful if the enemies are spaced out enough that I can wander around them to hit them all but somehow manages to be terrible when the enemies are all funneled in through a tunnel.

Charm is my...3rd or 4th useful spell (the others being Freeze, Heal and debateably Telekinesis. without rocks lying around telekinesis is basically just expensive throw barrel). Keeping enemies looking not at me is basically the only way to survive now that enemies have ranged attacks. Unfortunately, it rarely does more then distract. Apparently even armoured knights can do nothing before the mighty flame candle.

Lightning has been used a total of twice: once when I panicked and shot some orcs in a pond, and once when fighting a cyclops in a watery area. It was very good in these moments. It is absolutely useless any other time. It fires slow, deals terrible damage, is a pain to aim, and has nowhere NEAR the stopping power it would need to fight off enemies if they aren't in water.

Fireball is what I wish I had taken instead of Lightning. I've used a scroll of it a couple times and while the damage isn't amazing, it ragdolls things. This alone means it's probably the 3rd best spell in the game behind Freeze and Heal. Probably going to take it when I get the points.

When magic works it's really fun...but the problem is that it's built around exploiting the environment and is incredibly weak when the battlefield isn't designed with magic in mind. If only I actually got to fight in the wetlands and storage areas, my magic might find some use. Unfortunately, I'm basically regulated to hiding in corners tripping people with freeze and hoping I can inferno a group without them body blocking each other (and hoping I can tag them all while blinded by fire effects.)


...and considering I've done nothing but rant with this thread...thanks for putting up with me on the subject. I'd like to clarify that I AM having fun with the game, it's just really frustrating because I walked in expecting magic to be a fun and powerful experience and I got...well, you've seen the ranting. Maybe I should stop starting every game I play on hard.

[League of Legends]

Your gonna want to use lightning on demons and if your Melee skill high enough then there should be a blessed sword but you might have missed it by now. Also just charm the 1 hit kill guys or the ghouls pretty useful and they attract literally like all of the enemies attention though it is kinda glitchy at times.