How to run high level dungeon?

[Rex Lupus]

I'm stuck on the contract for this dungeon. It's 4 skulls and from an area that is recommended to go on level 15 (I'm 16), but I just have no chance of doing it. The entrance always has 4~6 enemies close by, and if any of them reaches me, I'm dead in 2 hits due to their damage and I can't kill any 1 of them before they reach me. Is it possible to do this dungeon? How?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3477515426

[funkmonster7]

4 skull dungeon's recommended level isn't 15. It is 20-25. You need T4 gear to run it properly.

If someone is running it at lvl 15, you'd be surprised: you can be lvl 15 and run a T5 dungeon as well, if you know what you're doing.

Shout luring does a lot of help, but you'll have to run the hell out of there if things get bad.

You can take your time clearing out a dungeon before taking the contract. But taking the contract first and then you go and try to clear the dungeon out within a 3-day period without knowing what is in it... that is going to be rough, especially as a lvl 16.

In this game, gear is just as important, if not more important than the number of skills. It boils down to how quickly your core build is completed, and whether you're playing a ranged or melee build.

The neat thing about discovering T5 dungeons early and then slowly but methodically clearing it out is, even if you don't get to finish the entire dungeon you can still take some decent loot while clearing it. Some of the loot are comprised of T4-T5 gear. So you basically get free gear, even if they're broken you can repair them; and then the ones you don't need and aren't broken you can sell for a decent sum of cash.

I once took a broke (but lvl 30) Pyromancer into a bandit dungeon and after clearing it out, I took about 1 irl hour taking all the un-broken weapons and armors out, throw them outside the dungeon, so that I could take them to my caravan and stash them there to sell to the Mannshire and Osbrook blacksmiths.

I earned 10k doing that. Those 2 guys couldn't purchase all my loot at once, so I had to break down the sales over several ingame weeks. The other portion of the loot earned me another 10k.

A lvl 30 Pyromancer with 13 crowns went into a T5 dungeon, cleared it (with ease) and came back out with what is essentially 20k crowns. So basically, if someone who is lvl 15 goes into a T4-T5 dungeon - he knows what he is doing. But don't do that if you don't know what you're doing, you'll get creamed.

[funkmonster7]

Also, just checked your screenshot... You're a mage.

As a Jonna mage, don't attempt T4-T5 until you have completed your core build. And make sure you are full Perception mage. Because without range and high miracle chance, you're a dead mage.

Assuming you're Electromancer and you've been optimizing your build, you should able to get really strong at around lvl 19. Lvl 22 is your golden number as you can unlock a lot of your Tier 4 abilities by your level alone - so anything that could be unlocked earlier with high Wil would be unlocked by your level.

A mage build (which counts as a ranged build in this context) absolutely obliterates everyone and everything. But until that happens, you're best off not taking T4 contracts.

Ranged builds are basically "bullies". They take advantage of weaker foes not being able to get to them quickly enough while they absolutely harass enemies with "catch me if you can" strategy. So, take advantage of that and go clear T2-T3 dungeons. Then later on go bully the T4-T5 enemies just because you can.

The only reason why the veterans can clear T5 dungeons is they use shout lure. Mages can't use that strategy, their spells are loud enough.

And also, in that screenshot you are facing 3 Necromages (or whatever they're called, their name escapes me right now). You're essentially fighting 8 foes including that other 2 guys over there. So yeah, you won't win. Just take the loss and go grind something else. Mage gear is super expensive, you'll need to grind a lot.

[Rhapsody]

If that's Jonna's starting mantle, you'd do well to replace it, as well as any other gear that is below tier 3, preferably by switching to tier 4 items.

Dealing with that kind of enemy formation is rough, especially for pyro. I think I had Incineration at that point myself though. It's especially helpful with girruds because it's somewhat easy to set up enemy positioning with them so you can grill two targets with one Incineration.

[funkmonster7]

You're also extremely unlucky too. Because you entered the dungeon and you end up with a wide room and monsters already piling on you from all directions. A Pyromancer isn't that good at fighting enemies coming from all directions. If they're coming through a bottleneck, yes you can troll them. If you're the one in a bottleneck and behind you is a wall, you're the one being trolled.

[lalelunatic]

the crypt mages in the screen are so funny... at least if you put shackles on them... they insta pop themselfes when they summon their minion if you got enough magic power (200+ish) =). easiest dungeon... later on at least... that spell is vastly underrated.

electro also has zero probs with that situiation if you abuse high cd reduction and bonus range, with chain, pre cast power, insight and reflect seal before entering and drop an insight to avoid ground spells from them once down. once 2 are jolted chain resets its own cd to zero, so you can just go berserk.

necros = shackle
tongue puller = chain lightning stagger
everything else = jolt, jolt, jolt, maybe chain, tempest

[Flatland]

That is a rough welcoming committee you got there.
My suggestion:
Block the left "wing" with magma rain. Keep fire barging the melee guy (the one with pointy ears) while walking to the top left corner in hopes he dies early enough. Finish off the necromancer. Lure the bloated guy (the ones who explode and do some AoE) to the left. After the magma rain block wear off to the same and try to utilize the bloated guy as some kind of bomb. He should be in line with the left group now. Keep fire baraging as often as you can, use the ray thingy and of course utilize the ring of fire+baptism by fire combo for higher damage output.
Further: Do not take melee abilities as a mage. You have one from the staff-tree which does little to no help as a mage.
As funkmonster7 mentioned, wait till level 22. Do not take any abilities at level 20 and 21, so you can pick all T4 pyro abilities at once when you hit level 22. With all 3 pyro T4 abilities your damage output is enhanced further and you get another AoE crowd control (inferno).
But yeah, seems quite tough but I think kind of doable.

[Elizabello]

Originally posted by Rex Lupus:

I'm stuck on the contract for this dungeon. It's 4 skulls and from an area that is recommended to go on level 15 (I'm 16), but I just have no chance of doing it. The entrance always has 4~6 enemies close by, and if any of them reaches me, I'm dead in 2 hits due to their damage and I can't kill any 1 of them before they reach me. Is it possible to do this dungeon? How?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3477515426

I ran into a similar problem once with Pyromancer Jonna. And ill tell you right now, it will get worse. You will enter a t5, the gate will close behind and you will be greeted by 3 times the numbers of even stronger enemies that you see on screen.
So what i did was take Runic Boulder and Stone Spikes from geomancy. Boulders will act both as line of sight obstructions and knockbacks. Stone spikes also knockback but its main utility is in closing of paths. So it lets you create death traps for the enemies and is the only way(that i know) to force enemies to stand in your Magma and Inferno fields. That includes human enemies and even Magehunters. If you play around with Runic Boulders and Spikes you ll figure out how to make everyone stand in you fire fields. Now that might not be enough since starting T4 enemies get different gap closers and you dont want to leave things to chance. So i reccomend taking dash.
For all of that to work you ll need a lot of cooldown reduction and energy cost reductions, since Runic boulders consume energy so full Willpower(30).
My dash is at 5cd, Melting ray at 4, incineration at 3 and inferno at 7 in lategame. Dash on a low cd will let you escape practially any danger.
Where do get 2 points for Runic Boulder and Spikes - i personally find Excess Heat and Pyromania utterly useless.
Result - a pyromancer build that clears anything fast with zero danger, regardless of the numbers of enemies. They can be all trolls for all i care. They ll all burn without ever reaching me. Its permadeath viable, i m using it.
Runic boulders are also very nice to obstruct those pesky teleporting fiends.
Now you are lvl 16 and i wouldnt reccomend going into t4-t5 until you are geared in t4 at least. But your build in this case is even more important then gear and probably not ready.
About range and Perception and crits - dont worry about range. With this build you dont need much at all and it will come eventually. I wouldnt go beyond 15 Per. That will give you 1 range. T4 head sold in Brynn - battlemage circlet has +1 range. Venemist talisman acquired from L'Owcrey quest will provide 1 more. Thats +3 range you can get before strarting t5 dungeons. When you ll start doing t5 dungeons you will be able to get 3 more range, not counting Stardust. And you dont need a high crit chance for this build since a huge portion of you damage is dots.

[Flatland]

Originally posted by Elizabello:

Where do get 2 points for Runic Boulder and Spikes - i personally find Excess Heat and Pyromania utterly useless.

Pyromania and especially excess heat are quite useful for situations like OP is in. The effect of excess heat just cascades after the first kill. It further goes hand in hand with Incineration (t3) due to the prolonged burning, hence higher damage output.
As a pure mage, perception should always go to 30 rather than willpower (cannot have both at 30). Cooldown and spell cost reduction is often found on items and caps at some point. Bonus range does not cap and not many items give you permanent bonus range.

[Elizabello]

Originally posted by Flatland:

Originally posted by Elizabello:

Where do get 2 points for Runic Boulder and Spikes - i personally find Excess Heat and Pyromania utterly useless.

Pyromania and especially excess heat are quite useful for situations like OP is in. The effect of excess heat just cascades after the first kill. It further goes hand in hand with Incineration (t3) due to the prolonged burning, hence higher damage output.
As a pure mage, perception should always go to 30 rather than willpower (cannot have both at 30). Cooldown and spell cost reduction is often found on items and caps at some point. Bonus range does not cap and not many items give you permanent bonus range.

Do you even know the cooldown reduction cap? If you did, you wouldnt say that. Have fun googling it. But your perception build isnt even close to reaching it. And neither are you reaching spell cost reduction cap. But that one isnt a problem.
Actually a lot of items give bonus range:
Bunch of mage circlets starting from t4, Venemist talisman, Nikos Astrolabe, Ancient Wristbands, Farseer staff, Stardust. Thats 6. 3 of those you can have before reaching lategame. Some of the lategame ones are easier to find rng-wise then the others.
My electromancer has 12 Jolt range with 15 Perception without stardust. Thats MORE then i actually need. 9-10 is comfortable enough on permadeath in lategame. Before late game(t4-t5) you dont even need range beyond t4 circlet.
The problem OP is having is getting swarmed by difficult enemies(for his lvl 16) right at the entrance of the dungeon, not his lack of ability to kill 1 of them. He needs to get control of the situation and that means eliminating rng. Boulders and spikes will block off all access points to him and let him do whatever he wants with the enemies as long as he maintains blockades, which he can if he has enough cd. If he had excess heat and pyromania it would do exactly nothing for him in that situation.

[Flatland]

Originally posted by Elizabello:

Originally posted by Flatland:

Pyromania and especially excess heat are quite useful for situations like OP is in. The effect of excess heat just cascades after the first kill. It further goes hand in hand with Incineration (t3) due to the prolonged burning, hence higher damage output.
As a pure mage, perception should always go to 30 rather than willpower (cannot have both at 30). Cooldown and spell cost reduction is often found on items and caps at some point. Bonus range does not cap and not many items give you permanent bonus range.

Do you even know the cooldown reduction cap? If you did, you wouldnt say that. Have fun googling it. But your perception build isnt even close to reaching it. And neither are you reaching spell cost reduction cap. But that one isnt a problem.
Actually a lot of items give bonus range:
Bunch of mage circlets starting from t4, Venemist talisman, Nikos Astrolabe, Ancient Wristbands, Farseer staff, Stardust. Thats 6. 3 of those you can have before reaching lategame. Some of the lategame ones are easier to find rng-wise then the others.
My electromancer has 12 Jolt range with 15 Perception without stardust. Thats MORE then i actually need. 9-10 is comfortable enough on permadeath in lategame. Before late game(t4-t5) you dont even need range beyond t4 circlet.
The problem OP is having is getting swarmed by difficult enemies(for his lvl 16) right at the entrance of the dungeon, not his lack of ability to kill 1 of them. He needs to get control of the situation and that means eliminating rng. Boulders and spikes will block off all access points to him and let him do whatever he wants with the enemies as long as he maintains blockades, which he can if he has enough cd. If he had excess heat and pyromania it would do exactly nothing for him in that situation.

I think both are capped at 25%, correct me if I'm wrong. With arcane lore and the right gear you hit the cap at level 22. No need to invest points into willpower when you get a similar effect with a single passive ability later on.

All those items you mentioned are either T5 uniques or artifacts which are not easy to get when you start doing t4s like OP does. Before T5-gear, I can only think of headgears which do give bonus range. I am not sure if there is a unique neck item for bonus range (again, pre T5). So OP ends up with max 2 item slots possible for bonus range.
As weirdly as it sounds, but uniques are worse than enchanted green/blue gear when comparing same tier. With a bit of luck (or some save scumming if you want to do that) you get better stats by enchanting your normal gear.

It is exactly this situation the OP is in, swarmed by enemies, where excess heat and pyromania excel at. Yes he is level 16, so no T4 spells. But wasting AP into another school for more crowd control will ruin his build when he starts doing T5s. Magma rain is his friend here. If laid out correctly enemies (except undead) will just wait before it or take a long way around it. With enough bonus range from prc you can just kill them off while they are running. In the screenshot from OP, an initial magma rain on the left or right side will save his live (still a tough fight though).

Further, stardust is temporary with an aftermath which is not to be taken lightly and also prevents you from taking pain-killing medication if needed (bad trip). Stardust's positive effect is quite short, not meant for the general contract but for boss and mini-boss fights.

[lalelunatic]

cd cap for everything is 25% (or 75% reduction) passivly. active reduce via skills/spells like sudden lunge or chain lightning on resonating stuff does work ontop of the passive reduction.

e.g. in case of the above mentioned two abilities, which reduce by 2 cd per implication, having abilities with 3 or less cd from passive will make them available every other round at least (because they also lose -1 cd from ending the turn as well). in case of chain lightning its -2 cd fix, for every resonating target affected.

bonus range for mages:
staff, farseer, mage general +1 reach
head, circlets +1 range, cowls +1 vision (vision is capped at 14 though)
amulet, venemists (alternate manticore reward) +1 reach and vision

with hildas bone charm (cd, power, dmg reduce), 25 perception and 25 willpower, plus farseer staff, spellweaver torso, council mage circlet, ruby bracers, council mage boots, hermit ring, gold sapphire ring, venemists necklace, nistrian cape and council belt you get cap cooldown at exactly 0.5% overcapped. 220ish magic power, 33% miracle, 91% miracle power, 14 (cap) vision and +6 range. around 31% crit avoid, 20-30% phys res (enchants), 20% magic and nature res, -13% dmg taken all without buffs at lvl 30, as refference.

a lot of this stuff you can get just from brynn, so technically available from the get go...

full mage build (electro in this case but its 14 ap for all spellschools anyway) nets you all electro spells, all but 2 magic mastery, self repair, pathfinder, ever vigilant and huntmaster (the free point actually, but i like to ravage some bisons and stuff, could get brace for impact instead if more defense is needed, which then stacks with ever vigilant for max crit dmg reduction), as well as dash and elusive.

[Elizabello]

Originally posted by Flatland:

Originally posted by Elizabello:

Do you even know the cooldown reduction cap? If you did, you wouldnt say that. Have fun googling it. But your perception build isnt even close to reaching it. And neither are you reaching spell cost reduction cap. But that one isnt a problem.
Actually a lot of items give bonus range:
Bunch of mage circlets starting from t4, Venemist talisman, Nikos Astrolabe, Ancient Wristbands, Farseer staff, Stardust. Thats 6. 3 of those you can have before reaching lategame. Some of the lategame ones are easier to find rng-wise then the others.
My electromancer has 12 Jolt range with 15 Perception without stardust. Thats MORE then i actually need. 9-10 is comfortable enough on permadeath in lategame. Before late game(t4-t5) you dont even need range beyond t4 circlet.
The problem OP is having is getting swarmed by difficult enemies(for his lvl 16) right at the entrance of the dungeon, not his lack of ability to kill 1 of them. He needs to get control of the situation and that means eliminating rng. Boulders and spikes will block off all access points to him and let him do whatever he wants with the enemies as long as he maintains blockades, which he can if he has enough cd. If he had excess heat and pyromania it would do exactly nothing for him in that situation.

I think both are capped at 25%, correct me if I'm wrong. With arcane lore and the right gear you hit the cap at level 22. No need to invest points into willpower when you get a similar effect with a single passive ability later on.

All those items you mentioned are either T5 uniques or artifacts which are not easy to get when you start doing t4s like OP does. Before T5-gear, I can only think of headgears which do give bonus range. I am not sure if there is a unique neck item for bonus range (again, pre T5). So OP ends up with max 2 item slots possible for bonus range.
As weirdly as it sounds, but uniques are worse than enchanted green/blue gear when comparing same tier. With a bit of luck (or some save scumming if you want to do that) you get better stats by enchanting your normal gear.

It is exactly this situation the OP is in, swarmed by enemies, where excess heat and pyromania excel at. Yes he is level 16, so no T4 spells. But wasting AP into another school for more crowd control will ruin his build when he starts doing T5s. Magma rain is his friend here. If laid out correctly enemies (except undead) will just wait before it or take a long way around it. With enough bonus range from prc you can just kill them off while they are running. In the screenshot from OP, an initial magma rain on the left or right side will save his live (still a tough fight though).

Further, stardust is temporary with an aftermath which is not to be taken lightly and also prevents you from taking pain-killing medication if needed (bad trip). Stardust's positive effect is quite short, not meant for the general contract but for boss and mini-boss fights.

Its 75%, not 25% and you barely scratch the surface with arcane lore. In fact even with gear and full Willpower its difficult to reach 75% without uncomfortable sacrifices. So no, you dont get the same with that passive.

Besides head bonus range you can get venemist amulet before even attempting t4. Which is a reward for saving Venemist. Which is pretty easy when you never run out of energy, manticore stands in your fire without baby noises and your dash is on a very low cd due to massive amounts of cooldown reduction from willpower.
And i guess you didnt know but you can get unique t5 gear and artificats from t4 dungeons. They drop only once so sooner or later you are getting them all.
Not all uniques are worse then normal enchanted gear but its true that a lot of them are lucklaster. But ancient wristbands are not. Here are images of both amulet and hands.
https://i.imgur.com/KnQFoKJ.png - hands
https://i.imgur.com/U5H4Kjn.png - amulet
Information on wikia about them is incorrect, it doesnt show they have bonus range, which where a lot of ppl get their lack of range misconceptions.

Spending 2 AP to be able to completely block off access to your character with nearly zero counterplay from the enemies - is a waste and will ruin his build?! Now you are just pulling ♥♥♥♥ out of your ass lol. With this he will be able to block off whatever enemies he wants and kill them from afar without ever putting himself in danger regardless of situation. Stone spike is 3v3 blockade with way lower cd then magma rain which is also 3v3 but actually has counterplay. Blocking off 1 access wont save him if he says he cant even kill 1 of them before they reach him.
And when he gets inferno those 2 "wasted AP that ruined his build" will force ALL enemies in the game to stay in the fire field indefinetely, trivializing ANY encounter regardless of enemy numbers or types.
Again he says he cant kill even 1 before they reach him. Pyromania doesnt excel at anything. Its mediocre even when it works. And its certainly not applicable in this sitution at all. For excess heat to work he needs to be able to kill something - which he cant in this situation.

[Elizabello]

Originally posted by lalelunatic:

cd cap for everything is 25% (or 75% reduction) passivly. active reduce via skills/spells like sudden lunge or chain lightning on resonating stuff does work ontop of the passive reduction.

e.g. in case of the above mentioned two abilities, which reduce by 2 cd per implication, having abilities with 3 or less cd from passive will make them available every other round at least (because they also lose -1 cd from ending the turn as well). in case of chain lightning its -2 cd fix, for every resonating target affected.

bonus range for mages:
staff, farseer, mage general +1 reach
head, circlets +1 range, cowls +1 vision (vision is capped at 14 though)
amulet, venemists (alternate manticore reward) +1 reach and vision

with hildas bone charm (cd, power, dmg reduce), 25 perception and 25 willpower, plus farseer staff, spellweaver torso, council mage circlet, ruby bracers, council mage boots, hermit ring, gold sapphire ring, venemists necklace, nistrian cape and council belt you get cap cooldown at exactly 0.5% overcapped. 220ish magic power, 33% miracle, 91% miracle power, 14 (cap) vision and +6 range. around 31% crit avoid, 20-30% phys res (enchants), 20% magic and nature res, -13% dmg taken all without buffs at lvl 30, as refference.

a lot of this stuff you can get just from brynn, so technically available from the get go...

full mage build (electro in this case but its 14 ap for all spellschools anyway) nets you all electro spells, all but 2 magic mastery, self repair, pathfinder, ever vigilant and huntmaster (the free point actually, but i like to ravage some bisons and stuff, could get brace for impact instead if more defense is needed, which then stacks with ever vigilant for max crit dmg reduction), as well as dash and elusive.

That is quite op tbh. I was planning to make exactly that build but just not sure about losing 16% backfire chance from Jonna.

[lalelunatic]

well, farseer has backfire on it, global stat is -8.5%ish, all but chain and tempest have 0% chance, chain has 2.5% chance and tempest 10% chance. but with that range and the build having all the buffs from magic mastery its technically 0, especially as each buff has lower cd as it has runtime, as well as seal of power for electro also has backfire as buff, and as you can switch electro for any other spellschool, same ap cost, it should work there as well.

you got finesse and insight. and they dont see you because of vision cap. and if you´re ambushed, take brace for impact (or even stone skin) instead of huntmaster if you dont wanna be carefull and stack the 16% fumble from brace with shackles 25% fumble... you technically take minimal dmg (even without elusives + gears 80% dodge and combined -28% dmg taken after about 40-50% phys res from reflect+gear+enchants).... i once got hit 3 times in the head in 3 consecutive fights and didnt even need a splint or bandage for the bleeding, and the circlet has 0 armor. you can top that off with the tapestry artifact for another -15% dmg taken btw. =)

the only t5 i need usables for is one with an active miasma state... most ppl tend to avoid cd reduction from wisdom for agi/str staff spec or stuff from warfare (which is nice, as the tactics dont deplete when using spells, only with skills, but not needed), but for electro i think its more important than magic power, because of the debuff mechanics. critting the troll and manticore for 250ish dmg with tempest once all debuffs are active is kinda neat (although, just dotting and letting them kill them selfes with shackles is more minimalitic).

you get -20% from electrocute, -30% from 3 spell hits, -15% x 2 from 2 crits, about 20-40% from static (takes a bit to long, but whatever), so in average in 5-6 turns you get about -100% electro resist, and if you jolt only (against bosses) you have 50ish stacks of electrocute, as magic mastery also makes the debuff last longer (dont use impuls, it has a higher debuff, but stacks slower), thats 50x5=250% bonus dmg on tempest, with 220% magic power and -100% resist and 90% crit dmg. and thats as said without buffs.

oh and electro has the nice bonus of beeing able to shoot through and around closed doors.. and if its a 1 tile door, put a ball lightning in there... its a roadblock (they cant walk through the center tile) without hp, so it stopps them forever, as you can just ball -> chain cd reduce -> ball... yes you can have more than one active at the same time.

you also dont need energy reg, as statics passive regs 20% of the dmg done to the target with static active, not just from its own dot, so a 250 crit tempest regs 50 mana... making it the least attractive stat actually...

[funkmonster7]

Originally posted by Elizabello:

Its 75%, not 25%

Honestly, I mean no offense but you could've used some comprehension skills to interpret what lalelunatic meant by "25%", he obviously meant the minimum CD (hence the "cap") rather than the actual reduction. It wouldn't make much sense otherwise, with Sprint Training already offering -30% Cooldowns Duration (official ingame terms here) for charge skills, for example.

In the game, the term "cooldown reduction" doesn't exist, there is only "cooldowns duration" which is effectively abbreviated as CD.

Anyhow, with the recent nerf to Arcane Lore and possibly other gear (I haven't played a full mage since the nerf), it is not easy to hit the CD min value of 25% anymore. You'd have to invest into Willpower AND learn Arcane Lore to reach that value.

However, 30 Prc and 20 Wil is still one of the best ways to stat your pure mage, not only because of the extra range you get but also the extra +10% miracle chance. And having +2 more vision range helps. For Jonna who can carry treatises with her to max out miracle potency, having more miracle chance is always better.

Enemies generally can shoot you from 11 tiles out, 12 tiles if using Taking Aim. So if we do a bit of calculation:

Fire Barrage has base 5 range.

Prc at 30 means Fire Barrage has 9 range.

Seal of Power gives another +1 range but only for the first cast unless you can reset the seal back to neutral again (by casting another MM spell or recasting SoP).

From Blaze to Furnace gives another +1 range, but only when there are no enemies within 5 tiles of you.

And lastly, circlets that give +1 range... I'm not counting Farseer Staff and quest rewards atm because by the time you get them, either you're lucky with T4 dungeon unique drops or you are already able to run T4-T5 with minimal difficulty, which clearly isn't the case for OP here.

This means, with Prc at 30, Fire Barrage would start out with 5+4+1+1+1 = 12 range. As you can see, you can outrange most archers unless they start using Taking Aim. But they rarely ever shoot you first. Most of the time I start the battle with Fire Barrage or Melting Ray, then MR or FB (whichever I didn't cast before). With 11 range (not counting SoP), MR can hit fairly well if enemies are bunched up nicely. If MR passes through destructible objects, the extra damage counts too. This is one of the reasons why having as much range as possible is good for a Pyromancer.

Also, since Pyromancer has no CC, any extra range is perfect. And since Pyromancer's damage is quite high, upon killing an enemy you can proc Pyromania (or is it Excess Heat, I forgot) and absolutely decimate other enemies quickly. +20% Pyromancy Power is nothing to scoff at. Your damage shoots through the roof. And not to mention, you can cast all your prebuffs well out of enemies' detection range without them hearing anything.

For example, when I played my Pyromancer (and this was before the devs nerfed the enemies' detection range), I cast SoI, stand on the seal, cast SoF, then SoP, then finally start the battle with MR. Then Ring of Fire, then FB. With 30 Prc my FB accuracy is 125% if I'm not mistaken, meaning even if enemies have dodge chance they ain't dodging those bolts. Sure, 20 Prc means you have 105% accuracy but if there is anything (crates etc) near the enemies they will cause your accuracy to drop, because FB is a projectile spell (currently the only two projectile spells in the game are FB and Jolt).

With FB boosted by SoP and RoF, and if it is an empowered FB on top of that, with all the miracle potency stacked on top of it all, whoever I shot at probably died or is half hp. I drop a Magma Rain for some CC, then FB the weakest enemy, he dies, and I get an amped up next spell. I drop an Inferno, everything dies.

The Runic Boulder trick is nice and all, but casting a Geo spell makes you lose your +15% Pyromancy Power. It isn't a bad trade per se, just a different style of play. For my pure Pyro, I specifically ran her without any support from other schools of magic. My final build ended up with 4 free AP so I just experimented with random things.

The old Jonna had no magic book hoarding trick to max miracle potency. If she did, I would've put the last 4 AP into Runic Boulder -> Boulder Toss. Because anything that is heavily fire resistant would be difficult to kill. But a Runic Boulder thrown from 10 tiles behind me to 10 tiles in front of me? Magehunter dies before he even knows what hit him.

That is one of the best reasons you'd go 30 Prc as a pure mage.

The other solution against fire resistant enemies is learn Taking Aim, and swap to a crossbow and shoot from max range. With 30 Prc you should get +30% weapon damage via Taking Aim. This was the strategy I used against Magehunter at the time, because I wanted to save AP to test other things (so I ended up testing with 3 free AP instead). I didn't like that approach because I had to constantly swap to a secondary loadout just to deal with Magehunter.

I don't need to say what happens if you manage to score a Farseer Staff or the Astrolabe artifact and buff yourself with +1 range and stuff... You can actually get 13 range, 14 with SoP. I've done it. If enemies with their past detection range still couldn't touch my Pyro, you can imagine how powerful 30 Prc Pyros are right now. Hell, even Jonna's trait encourages you to max Prc over Wil.

My Pyro didn't use a Farseer Staff. Sure, it was useful, but I had far more damage output with the Tier IV Pyromancer Staff. Then again, old gear stats... But I know the current Jonna can absolutely max miracle potency whereas back then I couldn't - not that I needed to, when almost every spell I fired was empowered it didn't matter anymore.

And also, one of the MM T3 passive skills, Thaumaturgy lowers all spell active cooldowns by 1 turn if you proc a miracle. That is also one of the ways to cool your spells down.

Now, I'm not saying 30 Wil is not playable or anything. But you can get tapped by Marksman and Heavy Crossbowman and these two guys are far more dangerous than Magehunter just because they can 3-shot you and they're the ones who can hit you reliably from 11 tiles away. Of course you can outrange them by the time you get your amulet, Farseer etc... Until then? Play hide and seek a lot, smoke bomb a lot.

30 Wil Pyro actually works very well in some kind of armored mage build because From Blaze to Furnace can be utilized in a different way: lacking +10% miracle chance isn't a big deal because as long as you have 3 enemies within 5 tiles of you, you're getting 9% miracle chance total, on top of +15% Pyromancy Power. Finally, Flame Wave sees some use other than in the early game. And this type of armored Pyro build really slaughters with no discrimination. (The armor is just there to protect you in case you get hit because your range is not as high as a 30 Prc version.)

Also, one last thing I forgot to say: empowered spells, if they have a duration, will last longer.

I remember casting an empowered Magma Rain, with 30 Prc 20 Wil build, on the training dummy. Magma Rain finished cooling down before the previous one's duration ran out. Hell, I stacked 3 Magma Rains before the 1st one ran its duration out. If there is any downside to this, it would be if I CC'ed the entire doorway and then nuked everything else on the other side of the flaming lake, I have to wait patiently for the 'lake' to disappear before I can pass through the chokepoint again.

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Interestingly, Hilda also makes for a decent mage. I say "decent" because nothing can beat Jonna's miracle potency hack. I made posts about how insanely powerful Jonna Pyromancer is in this forum... With screenshots to prove my point. But alas, 30 Prc mage is kind of a boring way to play.