Basic Guide for Crystal Mage

[Renshan_OrientalLeaf]

Alright guys here is a pure crystal mage build I just used to beat the game on HARD. For easy reference I'll just cut the crap and go straight to the points.



0) Why should I play a mage?
Crystal Magics OP. Tons of damage, tons of aoe, tons of heal. You can kill anything in sight without being touched late game. And it will never be blocked like melee attacks.


1) How to get in the Mage guild?
Get to Taranis, clear out four mines to impress the General, then you are in. You will only encounter some skeletons and minions on your way, nothing too threatening.



2.a) Since this is a pure mage build:
Do not spend any point in other attributes other than Magic before joining the guide. You only need Magic, Cunning, Spirit. Maybe some Melee / Toughness late game but still then you will have to focus on Magic and get it above at least 50.

2.b) And...since you are quite weak before you learn any magic:

ALWAYS TAKE BONES WITH YOU. He deals good damage and he can heal. If you are low on health just keep rolling around him so he may heal you.



3) When you are in those mines, mine all the crystal deposits.
Learning magic costs a lot of crystals, but magic crystal deposits are rare. You should never sell them. LEARN MINING before you mine those deposits IS A MUST. Collect (and steal) any crystal you encounter. Sometimes goblins have crystals on them so check their remains often. After you run out of stock on Taranis, there are some deposits that can be easily accessed in Calador and Kila.



4) Okay I mined the mines and joined the guild. What's next?
Get spells ofc. Mages in the great hall will teach you Fire Rain and Lightning. The guy who trains cadets outside teachs you Fire Fist and Icy Touch. A Guardian NPC (Wells or Agile? Can't remember) can teach you Rust which is hella useful. The alchemist in the basement of the great hall teaches you heal and crystal torch.

Rust costs you 15 crystals. Fire Fist / Icy Touch / Lighting costs 40. Fire Rain costs 55.
Heal 25. Crystal torch 15.

You will learn Wind Hand / Wave of Energy / Hail of Shards later after completing related quests. Wind Hand is free I remember. Wave of Energy and Hail of shards cost 40 each.



5) Any important skill to learn?
Spell dancer is crucial. Without this skill your casting animation is slow and will often be interupted by enemies. It speeds up your DPS significantly, and allows you to kite better.

Master mage gives you up to 20% cooldown reduction, but it doesn't affect Fist spells (Fire/Ice/Lighting). Very useful late game but not that imprtant mid-game.

Battle Mage / Crystal Mage are nice but you don't really need them till late game.

All other skills are optional.



6) Crystal spells 101:
[All spells that deal direct damage benefits from Magic attributes. The higher the attribute is, the harder your spells hit.]

Fist Spells (Fire Fist/ Icy Touch/ Lightning)
Your bread and butter. It hits all emenies in front of you (like a Cone of cold in WoW) in melee range. The 3rd hit staggers opponents. Feel free to kill creeps with full combo. When fighting a pack of emenies, try to position yourself by dodging so that you can hit all of them. These spells are so powerful late game even golems will fall after you perform a full combo of four hits.

Caution: When shadow guardian / golem / rammer attacks they cannot be stopped. Do not unleash full combo if they are going to hit you. Soul eater sometimes cannot be stopped too so be careful when you face one.

Tips: Some enemies have elemental weakness / Resistance. Firebirds / Dragon snappers are resistant to fire damage, while lava golems are immune to it. Cave Bats and black ghouls will resist ice damage but are weak against fire. Iron Golems will just perish after you use lightning. So make sure you learn at least two kinds of fist spells when you join the guild.


Hail of Shards
A barrage of ice shards dealing slightly more damage than a single blow from fist spells. However it has a significant knock-back effect. Use it when a soul eater is trying to jump on you. Complete the water sampling quest then wait for a day to get this spell.


Rain of Fire
MVP spell. This spell creates a zone that keeps damaging nearby foes. You are always the center of the zone even if you move. It shines when you are dealing with a lot of enemies as it constantly disrupt their attacks, thus giving you the time to concentrate your fire and burst down your priority target. Extremely useful in the final boss fight. Get it first after getting fist spells of choice.


Wave of Energy
A nova spell that deals medicore damage while pushing back all nearby enemies. Some large enemy (like a boss) may resist the knock-back effect. Useful when you are surrounded.
You will need to finish the quest of collecting gold / astral / rock quartz to unlock the spell.


Rust
The effectiveness of this spell increases with your magic attribute. It actually makes your lockpicking level equals to your crystal magic level. Get it ASAP for tons of spoils.


Heal
Life-saver but not priority, because those meats you harvested from dead animals are already more than enough.


Crystal Torch
Can be useful at night. But a fully upgraded Astral Vision (Q) is much better than this.


Wind Hand
Only useful when collecting quatzs.




7) Ugh.....anything else?

You can use rock crystals to trade magic crystals with your mage companion (can be recruited on the inquisition island during monolith quest) after completing some related quest. Rock crystals can be found near waterfalls. But make sure you do it before completing the spirit ritual quest. Or...... *Spoiler* you won't have the chance because he's gonna die.

Best armor? Mage guild's armor all the way. No off-hand weapon needed cuz FIRE FIST RULES.





Enjoy!

[pw1108]

Was Crystal magic of Risen 1 was fun?
because I beat the game as a henchman of Don.

[kaffekoppen]

Thanks buddy, I'm going down that route today. I haven't very focused on getting the maximal number of crystals, so I hope I'll have enough.

[Renshan_OrientalLeaf]

Originally posted by kaffekoppen:

Thanks buddy, I'm going down that route today. I haven't very focused on getting the maximal number of crystals, so I hope I'll have enough.

Well if you are not gonna use them for crafting you'll be fine I guess. Just look for rock quatz if you can't find a crystal deposit.

[kaffekoppen]

I got the prospecting skill to get 8 instead of 5 after mining just one vein. I also gave 5 crystals to a gnome. Other than that, I haven't really wasted any.

[Kaldaien]

Originally posted by kaffekoppen:

I got the prospecting skill to get 8 instead of 5 after mining just one vein. I also gave 5 crystals to a gnome. Other than that, I haven't really wasted any.

You can pickpocket quite a few crystals to be honest. I am constantly surprised by who has crystals... guys from the competing two factions will often carry a few around with them rather than their own spell casting reagent (shrug?).

[Jiub]

So where could I find the prospecting skill trainer? =]

[Renshan_OrientalLeaf]

Originally posted by tiungerich:

So where could I find the prospecting skill trainer? =]

Some gnomes on Taranis can teach you that. You can find them in the mine on the north.

[ignorance[is]bliss]

Originally posted by Fran's BodyGuard:

Originally posted by tiungerich:

So where could I find the prospecting skill trainer? =]

Some gnomes on Taranis can teach you that. You can find them in the mine on the north.

Yes, Faris can teach you Prospecting for 500 gold. He is inside the mine to NW of Main Town. You can find guardian named Vladimir at the entrance.

[XiL]

Originally posted by Fran's BodyGuard:

Wind Hand
Only useful when collecting quatzs.

Wind Hand is craaazy OP for stealing stuff too. You can steal stuff from afar and even steal/pick up things thru solid walls. Plus its useful if you're collecting mats all the time.
Great basic mage guide btw.

[Eincrou]

A helpful overview of being a Guardian. Thanks. I didn't look at any guides or hints until after becoming a guardian and I found out a few things the hard way. I didn't know about the Prospector ability, so some crystals were wasted on Kila and Tacarigua.

I also didn't know about Horas' quest for 20 rock crystals that opens up after you give the mage the special crystals. Any rock crystals given to Horas before that quest opens DO NOT COUNT. I don't think there will be enough rock crystals left in the game for me to finish it. Oh, well. This is a hardcore RPG, and it gives you the freedom to be suboptimal.

[AXL]

i will try this build. Thanks