Next skill?

• Tibarn wrote on 2011-02-15 07:35
  So I've recently built up a (decently) massive AP reserve, 252 AP to be exact, and I don't know what to rank next.
  
  My notable skills are in my signature.
  
  I'm mostly melee with archery secondary, but I kind of want to get into magic now. I chose the Mage destiny when I rebirthed today.
  
  I'm not particularly interested in spending the time/money grinding Life skills.
  
  I desperately want Bow Mastery, but I'm not very patient.
• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-02-15 10:42
  ThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunder RANK THUNDER NOW!
• Joker wrote on 2011-02-15 10:50

  Quote from Sleeperdial;336684:

  ThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunderThunder RANK THUNDER NOW!

  
  
  Wut he said... but get thunder to rank 5... and lightning mast to about 9 (also nets you +76 mana) from there you'll have 17 ap left... I sugguest putting into reserve for bow mastery when it comesout or if you want start investing into mana shield...
• Knightmehre wrote on 2011-02-15 10:58
  assault slash, though its cool at F the range is godly at 1.
• Xemnas wrote on 2011-02-15 11:20
  I'd say assault slash because of it's usefulness in melee combos, and you said you're mainly melee.
• truefire wrote on 2011-02-15 11:37
  Thunder to at least R6. If you've got the AP after that, Assault Slash.
• Cynic wrote on 2011-02-15 12:17
  Get Thunder to r5, then work on Assault Slash.
• Soulroc wrote on 2011-02-15 12:26
  Thunder to r1 go go. That should be enough ap from r8->r1
• Username wrote on 2011-02-15 12:35
  Assault Slash.
• demonlord96 wrote on 2011-02-15 12:41
  I would say go Thunder on this one. I don't play a mage myself, but from what I've seen and heard Thunder is one of the most pwn spells in the game. Besides, you just rebirthed into the mage destiny. Working on Assault Slash would end up being a total waste of your time at the moment. Wait for another rebirth for that.
• Cryosite wrote on 2011-02-15 15:21
  Go with Thunder. As others have suggested rank 6 is a really good stopping point (thunder doesn't follow the same pattern as most skills people, the "good" ranks are not 9,5,1 but B,6,1). rank 1 is obviously better, like all skills.
  
  If you decide you like magic, mana shield, firebolt, meditation, and magic mastery would all be good additions to your arsenal. To work well with your existing powerful melee skills, I would suggest getting two wands or three wands. One wand for general "I'm playing wizard mode and thundering stuff mostly, with the occasional lightning bolt or firebolt as situation dictates" One for "I want to mix melee and mage and thundermill" and one for "rafting/clearing hordes of weak opponents"
  
  First and main wand is lightning wand. Upgrade for -mp cost for 4 upgrades, then artisan upgrade for 5th upgrade. Gem upgrade for a further reduction to mp cost, for a total of -20% mp cost. If you want to be frugal, keep whatever artisan upgrade you get, even if it is really bad. The 5th upgrade alternative is chaincasting, which is terrible and even an upgrade that does nothing is better. If you want to get a more ideal wand, reroll artisan (either through starting over with a new wand til you get a good roll or using the NX kit) til you get 60-80 int. Cheap but good enchant would be will o' the wisp or sprout, while a more ideal enchant setup would be lizard/wizard. Formal is reasonable in between suffix, and your prefix can be any cheap/easy damage or crit enchant or no prefix at all. If you do make this a more ideal wand, special upgrades would be worth it, but I wouldn't bother with those if you are making this a cheap wand.
  
  The thundermilling wand should be a crystal lightning wand. your first upgrade has to be -mp cost, -damage. You don't have any alternatives. your second, third, and fourth upgrades should be speedcast, to let you more easily charge thunder out of windmill. Your fifth upgrade can be artisan for greater thunder damage via INT or you can use one of the -mp/-damage upgrades to keep mana usage lower. For enchants I would suggest treating it like a melee weapon, though I would shy away from any that increase repair cost. Fox/raven is pretty decent, wolf hunter/spike would be a bit better. If you can get the enchant (it comes from gacha), Trustworthy is a nice suffix for this sort of use, as it boosts damage and lowers repair cost.
  
  Your rafting wand is something you should only really use if you go more into mage than just to dabble. The wand is a crystal lightning wand with maximum -mp/-damage upgrades. You'll need a decent INT and other increases to magic damage to offset the large damage penalty of the upgrade sequence, but when used against foes that you can still one-shot with a single charge (like hobgoblins when rafting), this wand makes your mana stretch the furthest possible and makes thunder cost a mere 17 mp when paired with an mp reduction set effect. If you want to make this wand more than just a cheap wand, then wizard enchant is ideal.
• sakraycore wrote on 2011-02-15 16:29
  crash shot
• TropicalCat wrote on 2011-02-15 17:57
  sandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburstsandburst!!!
• Tibarn wrote on 2011-02-15 19:40
  Seems Thunder is the way to go. I started ranking Thunder earlier, but then ran out of AP and forgot about it. I'd really like to be able to raft for Exploration as well.
• Snowknight wrote on 2011-02-15 19:46

  Quote from sakraycore;336871:

  crash shot

  
  
  ^ This. Crash shot is worth the ap also you seem like a archer so you should have fun with it :D