Dungeon Siege 1 Solo Hard Nature Magic or Why is Nature Magic so Bad?

[Mr Compassionate]

I am a level 38 nature magic user and apparently I am a "grand mage" which translates to "sissy" because using my most powerful combat spell (lightning blast) takes about as much time to kill an enemy as errosion to a granite cliff. I set out trying to become the most powerful nature mage possible by fighting alone thus earning maximum XP, it seems like no matter how high level I am nature magic is garbage. I basically have to rely on summoning because NPC's are monumentally stronger than me, every battle is a war of atrittion.

Is this how it is supposed to be? Am I doing something wrong? Is there a spell with NM that kicks a**? For reference I am on the beaches just after the goblin robot fight.

[Santouryu3]

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

I am a level 38 nature magic user and apparently I am a "grand mage" which translates to "sissy" because using my most powerful combat spell (lightning blast) takes about as much time to kill an enemy as errosion to a granite cliff. I set out trying to become the most powerful nature mage possible by fighting alone thus earning maximum XP, it seems like no matter how high level I am nature magic is garbage. I basically have to rely on summoning because NPC's are monumentally stronger than me, every battle is a war of atrittion.

Is this how it is supposed to be? Am I doing something wrong? Is there a spell with NM that kicks a**? For reference I am on the beaches just after the goblin robot fight.

Maybe it's because mages' spells are under power. Meaning most spells aren't overpower like the mod spells. I'm surprised you actually made that far after defeating the Goblin Mech. He was... easy actually; I had to cower behind pipes and attack with flame throwers, grenade launchers, and explosive blast since hit detection is as bad as Diablo 3's hit detection behind walls in Act 5. Perhaps you could use invincible spell which is lvl 46 nature magic which makes you imprevious to attacks for 10 seconds with the cost of 800ish mana. :s

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Santouryu3:

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

I am a level 38 nature magic user and apparently I am a "grand mage" which translates to "sissy" because using my most powerful combat spell (lightning blast) takes about as much time to kill an enemy as errosion to a granite cliff. I set out trying to become the most powerful nature mage possible by fighting alone thus earning maximum XP, it seems like no matter how high level I am nature magic is garbage. I basically have to rely on summoning because NPC's are monumentally stronger than me, every battle is a war of atrittion.

Is this how it is supposed to be? Am I doing something wrong? Is there a spell with NM that kicks a**? For reference I am on the beaches just after the goblin robot fight.

Maybe it's because mages' spells are under power. Meaning most spells aren't overpower like the mod spells. I'm surprised you actually made that far after defeating the Goblin Mech. He was... easy actually; I had to cower behind pipes and attack with flame throwers, grenade launchers, and explosive blast since hit detection is as bad as Diablo 3's hit detection behind walls in Act 5. Perhaps you could use invincible spell which is lvl 46 nature magic which makes you imprevious to attacks for 10 seconds with the cost of 800ish mana. :s

Man it's gonna be a long while before I get to level 46 but I'll try.
My usual strategy is to summon a cave giant (which is only a level 30-something spell) and use him as a meat sheild while I chip health off them with zappy bolts. In the end the giant does much, much more danage than I do though so I sometimes just focus on healing him.
I have a couple of questions.
1: Does using summons to kill people descrease XP award?
2: Should I start recruiting people now just to make things less tedious?
3: Am I at the correct level for this area?

[T-man]

First off all... god I love this game...

Then... well, the game is meant to be played with a party. Playing solo you can reach roughly up to lvl 65-68 till the end. Playing a full 8 ppl party you reach approximately lvl 56-62. As you can imagine 8 lvl 56 guys rip enemies a lot faster then 1 lvl 65 guy.

Also, balancing is somewhat bad. Melee chars are a bit overpowered. But that doesn't mean mages can't reach similar levels of effectivity. But balance between spells is also screwed up somewhat. The lightning beam spells for example are really weak.

The strong nature magic attack spells (up to lvl 38) are:

-dancing zap (in the beginning)
-ice blast
-multispark

Multispark should be your main attack spell as of lvl 38. Later (lvl 54) you get your nature magic bread-n-butter spell: "Ice fury".
Alle these spells have one thing in common... Multiple hits with small damage.
Why is that good?
Cuz of items with "+XX to nature damage". Reaching the bonepicker's outpost you can buy staves with up to +30 nature magic damge, often more then doubling these spells power.

You also should keep at least 1 combat mage in your party. They gain "Share Damage" as a lvl 12 spell, the best protection spell in the game, that makes group healing a lot more useful. Well, nature mages can do this too... at lvl 66... no need to say more...

And as you already found out, summons are quite useful. The best one for nature mages in mid levels are the zepheryl summons. They deal less damage then most melee summons, BUT always hit with their blasts and actually do what they are summoned for: attacking not wandering, cuz they are ranged.

With a nice amount of +natue damage and ice fury, a nature mage deals as much damage as a melee fighter, but also offers a summon, and a lot more utility.

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Seelenernter:

First off all... god I love this game...

Then... well, the game is meant to be played with a party. Playing solo you can reach roughly up to lvl 65-68 till the end. Playing a full 8 ppl party you reach approximately lvl 56-62. As you can imagine 8 lvl 56 guys rip enemies a lot faster then 1 lvl 65 guy.

Also, balancing is somewhat bad. Melee chars are a bit overpowered. But that doesn't mean mages can't reach similar levels of effectivity. But balance between spells is also screwed up somewhat. The lightning beam spells for example are really weak.

The strong nature magic attack spells (up to lvl 38) are:

-dancing zap (in the beginning)
-ice blast
-multispark

Multispark should be your main attack spell as of lvl 38. Later (lvl 54) you get your nature magic bread-n-butter spell: "Ice fury".
Alle these spells have one thing in common... Multiple hits with small damage.
Why is that good?
Cuz of items with "+XX to nature damage". Reaching the bonepicker's outpost you can buy staves with up to +30 nature magic damge, often more then doubling these spells power.

You also should keep at least 1 combat mage in your party. They gain "Share Damage" as a lvl 12 spell, the best protection spell in the game, that makes group healing a lot more useful. Well, nature mages can do this too... at lvl 66... no need to say more...

And as you already found out, summons are quite useful. The best one for nature mages in mid levels are the zepheryl summons. They deal less damage then most melee summons, BUT always hit with their blasts and actually do what they are summoned for: attacking not wandering, cuz they are ranged.

With a nice amount of +natue damage and ice fury, a nature mage deals as much damage as a melee fighter, but also offers a summon, and a lot more utility.

Cool thanks for the advice! This explains a lot about what spells I should be on the lookout for. I have never really gotten to talk with people who ever played this but it was my jam when I was a little lad. Last question, am I the right level right now? I just want to check in case I am actually supposed to be higher or lower. I am in the area just after the robot boss fight and the necromancer.

Oh and one more question before I forget, how do I chance spell books or spells quickly? I usually just manually drag and drop them in inventory which isn't ideal in a fight.

[Illimitus]

One of my more fun parties was a tank with 5 healers. I believe this maximizes EXP gain as the tank gets all the direct damage exp and the healers can also level up.

6 archers is good, as well as 6 fire mages with grenades, the longest range spell in the game.

[T-man]

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

Cool thanks for the advice! This explains a lot about what spells I should be on the lookout for. I have never really gotten to talk with people who ever played this but it was my jam when I was a little lad. Last question, am I the right level right now? I just want to check in case I am actually supposed to be higher or lower. I am in the area just after the robot boss fight and the necromancer.

Oh and one more question before I forget, how do I chance spell books or spells quickly? I usually just manually drag and drop them in inventory which isn't ideal in a fight.

You can set party constellations to do this easily.

And yes lvl 38 is "ok-ish" after the goblin lair, if its the magic level. It's normally the level I reach when playing a 4-5 ppl group, but a bit low for solo. Or is it the base level, and you do not use +nature magic skill level items? Robes can have +3 nature skills at that point, up to +2 from books, and most commonly +1 staff (meriks for example), quite rare but possible +1 amulet and +1 headdress.
Thats also a considerable damage boost.

If "necromancer" means gresh, as in gresh the necromancer attacking fortress kroth, then its definately to low.

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Seelenernter:

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

Cool thanks for the advice! This explains a lot about what spells I should be on the lookout for. I have never really gotten to talk with people who ever played this but it was my jam when I was a little lad. Last question, am I the right level right now? I just want to check in case I am actually supposed to be higher or lower. I am in the area just after the robot boss fight and the necromancer.

Oh and one more question before I forget, how do I chance spell books or spells quickly? I usually just manually drag and drop them in inventory which isn't ideal in a fight.

You can set party constellations to do this easily.

And yes lvl 38 is "ok-ish" after the goblin lair, if its the magic level. It's normally the level I reach when playing a 4-5 ppl group, but a bit low for solo. Or is it the base level, and you do not use +nature magic skill level items? Robes can have +3 nature skills at that point, up to +2 from books, and most commonly +1 staff (meriks for example), quite rare but possible +1 amulet and +1 headdress.
Thats also a considerable damage boost.

If "necromancer" means gresh, as in gresh the necromancer attacking fortress kroth, then its definately to low.

Yeah It's my base nature magic stat. I don't think I have found any nature magic boost items until the plot staff I just aquired. I'll be on the lookour for some better gear when I hit town and go shopping.

[T-man]

Merchant inventories are generated when the tileset containing them is loaded. If you have a save, standing shortly behind the goblin lair exit, up to roughly half the beach, u can run to the merchant at bonepicker's outpost and have a look at his goods. If nothing good appears, reload and repeat. Thats a good way to get some +skill robes/books or +nature magic damage staves. This merchant definately sells +3 robes.
Alternatively you could try to go back to Verma. But iirc she only generates +2skill robes.

[Ypulse]

you cant solo with nature
nature is support class, or you can try stealth/avoid combat gameplay

[Twobei]

If you have LoA I recommend buffing and throwing all kinds of attacking stuff around, it worked for me.
I have a run on hard difficulty and I really am suffering as I am using an Archer/Nature Mage combination.
Archer is just fine (especially with the crossbows xD) but the Nature Mage is not only hard to get up to but because of my insanely low health I just can't deal damage and get taken out by Zaurasks in less time than you can say Glitterdelve Mine!

[EolSunder]

With a nature mage you really need a hit and run tactic. You want like a giant summons up front to draw fire and with his higher hps you have time to whittle away on foes. I think summons for nature is much more important than combat mages. With a combat mage i tend to ignore summons all together, Id rather have the foes run up to me and i can whip out some reflect/fire shields to take them down much faster than my summons can do. But with a nature mage, you want to higher hps summons to draw fire and give you time to actually damage stuff.

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by EolSunder:

With a nature mage you really need a hit and run tactic. You want like a giant summons up front to draw fire and with his higher hps you have time to whittle away on foes. I think summons for nature is much more important than combat mages. With a combat mage i tend to ignore summons all together, Id rather have the foes run up to me and i can whip out some reflect/fire shields to take them down much faster than my summons can do. But with a nature mage, you want to higher hps summons to draw fire and give you time to actually damage stuff.

Yeah as a nature mage I spend most of my time summoning a giant in agro range of my enemy, shooting some lightning at them (doing almost nothing) then running away to wait for my health to regen. I also seem to level REALLY slowly even though I am by myself.

[EolSunder]

well leveling is all about doing damage fast, and nature mages are slower. their spells are slower to cast and they do less damage than say a combat mage, so yea nature mages probably of them all level slower than the other class's. I found with my nature mage it was the same thing, throwing a giant up front to draw fire while i threw lightning blasts, when giant was dead i fell back, regrouped and repeated.

[BoroMonokli]

I just finished my solo nature mage game in the Kingdom of Ehb campaign.

For the first 26-27 levels it is easy. Just dancing zap the night away.

Then you arrive at the forest, get crap drops, (the best staff I could scrounge up was +3-8 nature magic damage) and have to make do with Iceblast, and iceblast is SLOW (at least it feels slow after being able to rampage through everything with Dancing Zap's massive AoE) and you have to be close to the enemy to reach full potential.

In the swamp Multispark starts to show up. It is a step up in terms of damage, but it also costs more mana. At this point usually, you switch from healing hands/wind to Major Heal, and start using Shock Armor to keep your defenses topped. Multispark also requires mastery in positioning to deal the most damage, to keep both yourself and your enemy on open terrain.

The goblins are a nonissue, but the water dungeon and the fury den after that are hell.

After you get icefury though... things get sweet :)

My solo NM finished on level 64.41 and killed Gom using Icefury and a Dark Zepheryl summon.

[NinjaSushi]

Good stuff. I'm going to try a Nature Mage next I think. So far I've beat it with all combat mages on easy for fun and I tried to solo combat mage on hard. (it was my first play through too) I got to Merik and decided to take him along. So 1 CM and 1 NM on hard. Made it all the way to GOM but GOM on hard is stupid. He's insane, regens, and summons an army. Now I'm trying to beat it solo with a Melee knight dude. So far solo Melee on hard is easy as hell. I'm at the bandit camp right now and then hit the game crashing error. Had to reload an hour prior to avoid the bug.