Thunder or Mana Shield Tank.

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Sora wrote on 2010-08-31 02:34

Here's the deal, I'm not sure what path to take, I can either rank Thunder, (with enough ap to get rank 5) or Rank Mana Shield for some defense in SM's and Dungeons, along with Magic Mastery R1 (R6 atm).

I am an elf, with capped range skills, and r1 Counter/Critcal/CombatMastery/Windmill and R9 Smash. And I'm not sure if I should rank thunder to be able to take care of huge mobs, or, Mana Shield to better protect myself against the vile fomors. My int is just over 200 if u need to know, with just over 200 mana.

Also, in the future, I plan to save my AP and rank Crash Shot and Support Shot to rank 1, so I'm not entirely ready to go mage...
Justified wrote on 2010-08-31 02:40

Thunder, just because 200 Int + 250 Mana won't get you very far with Mana Shield unless you have high defense/prot and are using a shield.

Alternatively, you could rank Defense before Mana Shield.
Sora wrote on 2010-08-31 02:47

Anyone else?
Shirayuki wrote on 2010-08-31 02:50

I don't think you'll use Thunder that often, considering you have Range maxed, but every mage starts somewhere, so you should raise it anyway. Mana Shield is useless until cap+500< int right?
EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-08-31 03:01

Rank Thunder, and use it for easy exploration experience in rafting. Then, use those extra AP to rank Mana Shield.
Kaeporo wrote on 2010-08-31 03:21

Quote from EndlessDreams;141868:
Rank Thunder, and use it for easy exploration experience in rafting. Then, use those extra AP to rank Mana Shield.

Thunder is redundant if the TC wants to rank Crash Shot in the future. That being said (if you're an archer) you'll want to max Thunder anyway because of the will bonus.

...

You should decide your specialization right now.
Sora wrote on 2010-08-31 03:42

That simple, range, BUT I feel like I some sorta health, I get over 300 HP, but even with that, I can die in one combo, that why I was wondering if I should rank Mana Shield. But, I guess I'm gonna rank Thunder to Rank 5, then maybe.

Also, only need 300 int to get max bonus from Mana Shield.
EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-08-31 03:44

Quote from Kaeporo;141888:
Thunder is redundant if the TC wants to rank Crash Shot in the future. That being said (if you're an archer) you'll want to max Thunder anyway because of the will bonus.

...

You should decide your specialization right now.

Crash Shot can't really replace Thunder at all. They both do different things. Also, due to the aiming factor, Crash Shot can't really do as well as Thunder in rafting, which never misses.

Besides, it doesn't hurt to have extra mana, which you can then use mana shield better.
Sora wrote on 2010-08-31 03:54

Yah, thats what I thought too, so in the end, I guess I'm gonna rank Thunder, I really hate prolonging to save AP for Crash Shot, 480 AP is alot :<
spazzyorbit wrote on 2010-08-31 04:25

Mana shield is a MUST for elf archers.
Having r6 active basically makes you invincible against the vast majority of attacks.
Adding on, you will need a lot mana pots to make the best of this skill, a good source of which would be mana herbs from rafting (which will also give you heaps of tipping suits which you can synth) making thunder a reasonable skill to rank, too.
abc33kr wrote on 2010-08-31 04:52

With thunder r1 and decent rank of magic mastery, 400 mp is pretty easy to get.

and 400 mp for mana shield=pro elf xP
Cryosite wrote on 2010-08-31 12:55

I agree with TH. The will bonus alone is nice for crits for your archery, and the MP will make mana shield better later on. Eventually I'd say get both, but offense over defense.

Besides, a decent rank in TH now will help with rafting, which will make the easiest source of explore levels better for you, speeding up your AP gains each life a bit. It will basically pay for itself if you think of it that way.

At least get rank F mana shield though. It's better to have it and it be weak than to not have it at all. Skills don't have to be capped to be good.
Omegatronic wrote on 2010-08-31 13:44

I don't know if it's too late to vote, but I vote for the third option: start saving your AP now for crash shot and support shot and rank them to 1 in the first few days.
Kiyobi wrote on 2010-09-01 19:48

Thunder first, the mana increase it gives will help out Mana Shield.
Limes wrote on 2010-09-01 21:02

I'd say rank both, Thunder first (to preferably r6+) because you'll get a large MP gain from it. Then go ahead and do Mana shield, it's pretty valuable too.