I like Mabinogi because of the battle system and the possibility of ranking any skill and wearing any equips/enchants without any 'class' restrictions.
I always choose a mage in most games I play. However, I hate the fact that that class ends up being squishy and easy to kill, despite its tremendous destructive power. Mabinogi is the exception, you can become a mage with high Int, a large mana pool, etc. and at the same time have high def, a first class armor, and a skill that take advantage of both melee damage and Int: Blaze. I believe that skill was originally meant for a hybrid or the sub-class Battle Mage.
Blaze can deal 150%~200% melee damage, of course, it is outshone by the explosion which requires Int, but still, it cannot be ignored. It's an AoE skill, ignores protection when calculating critical rate... and it's damage percentage reminds me of wm: 250%. A critical there can be deadly.
I believe most of you are familiar with the Smash+Leap Attack+Blaze combo. That's 850%~900% melee damage AND 1xxx magic damage in what, less than 4 seconds (even after the nerf. In fact, I believe Blaze was nerfed because of this).
Now, a combat wand is an excellent melee weapon. 45 max damage, 30% critical and 60% balance with the right upgrades. Slap Lizard/Stiff and Wizard on it and you have the ultimate Battle Mage weapon. My goal is 180~250 max damage for a minimum of 1.5k ish melee damage using that combo +1.3kish magic damage (considering the 25% nerf). Keep in mind I wouldn't be able to use -Int enchants, that's why I can't aim for ultimate melee damage. However, 3kish damage in a single combo without crit seems really good.
As some of you know, I have practically maxed out my magic tab (with the exception of Party Healing and Magic Shields), and have rank 1 def/critical and Production (stam) as well as some other life skills. Therefore my Int and MP are pretty high and I fight with Magic all the time, no problems there as I can pretty much clear any SM/dungeon. I have high def and prot because of enchants, armor and shield, but I am willing to change whatever I need to achieve a consistent max damage or make a new set from scratch. However, my melee is crap. Smash rank f, wm rank f, cm rank C, etc. I don't even have final hit.
It would take as much AP to rank those skills as to rank Hailstorm and Ice Magic Mastery, which seems a reasonable opportunity cost for stable and reliable damage in the long run (third tiear Lighting Magic would be better anyways). I know you're thinking, why the hell don't you have wm rank 1 right now? Well, I planned on being a pure mage but g13 has put me in a crossroad and I think this decision is fine.
So, my first question is: in what order should I rank melee skills for the highest AP/damage gain. I think Smash and then Leap Attack, since that's my combo. But after that? I have found out that not many skills give Str... (consider g13 skills as well)
Which leads me to my second question: what max damage enchants are the best for this build (crit is important as well)? They shouldn't negate my Int, but I'm okay with a little less MP. I have read that high damage builds use clothes instead of armors... which leads me to my last question.
Should I use any equipments in particular? I have a Defensive Oak Tree Val, and I'm putting the same enchants on a 7/5 Dustin soon (I hope). I use Stiff/Blunt/Polished in everything else and Burst Knight as a suffix. Would a light armor be better? etc.
Any piece of advice would be nice. Thanks.