Single Minion Mage. Eaking out the damage. (in General)

Time to settle my thoughts with the start time of my next NCB character rapidly approaching.

Even with the recent changes, my original idea hasn't changed much, but I'd like to discuss any ways to make it more 'optimal'. :)

The basics. A single minion mage, wearing a familiar tattoo.

Even with the DD reduction, I will be making another single mage. The next choice is tattoo or armour? This time, I'm going for offence, so a damage dealing familiar over armour or a ToE.

I don't want to 'waste' potential damage by stacking FB with FB, so will go for FB in front and MM behind. CoC is great, by I want to be putting out damage from the first round, not having to wait until melee. Kill quickly or die will be my motto. ;)

As I can't get the familiar to spawn behind my mage, this will mean a FF coupled with a MM mage.

All that's really left is what else to train/wear on the Mage.

A pair of AG s is a no brainer, leaving head, boots and the new Amulet slot. The AG s will now grant no AC, the rest of my gear can't help offensively, and I’m not really going to focus on defence, so I'm not willing to splurge a lot of money on a pair of DB s or a Corn that won't help me unless I train a high Enchantment.

I'm not sure how much help any of the Amulets will provide either, and I'm not willing to shell out millions just to find out. ;)

As to what to train, MM and HPs. For enchantments, DM is the obvious choice, being more offensive (although not as damaging as AMF) than the others. Plus, I won't need to invest highly in it, allowing me to concentrate my XP on HP and MM. An ED is stickier. GA is the most offensive Enchantment, but I'll have to keep pumping XP into it, it will be vulnerable to others DM and will hurt me if both my minions survive into Melee.

With that thought in mind, PL seemed like the skill of choice to take. I'll not get much damage reduction from AC, but PL offers a straight 10% reduction. It'll help keep my familiar alive (at the expense of my mage), which should help cut down on the amount of times my team is damage by friendly fire (by my MM mage dying due to PL absorb in ranged) and I won't have to invest a lot of XP into it. Evasion would be the other choice. I think I'll have to drop PL when my mage become more powerful than my Familiar, and becomes my main damage dealer.

Bar suggesting running a Tank with a massive Morg (:P) is there any way to increase the damage I can put out as quickly as a Single Mage and DD familiar? Or any way to tweak my items/skills?

Try grabbing a named FF instead of an ordinary one. Since tattoos level up 4% faster when they're named, that'll increase it's potential.

You can also equip a pair of EBs instead of DBs to increase the PL effect.

Go with Grant's strategy for the first few weeks. Then throw in a Tank at 1.1 mil MPR (I suppose) and change that FF to a ToA.

Oh, wait, forget that. Instead of a tank, add in an Enchanter with Prot and keep the FF as is.

If you're going to go familiar tattoo why have the two mages at all in the first instance? Fire familiar with (armed for in front of tattoo placing) enchanter training AS/PL. You get the benefits of a single minion xp concentration still but with two minions. I've been recommending this to everyone lately I know but it works nicely. Think of it as a single minion mage variation on Novice's strat, with the huge potential AS instead of all that heavy armour.

And then when you need more damage just retrain those enchantments into HP and DD spell.....

But if you want maximum damage in a short time I don't think you can beat FB mage/FF.

:)

I'm going to stay single all the way. Just to keep XP concentration to my MM.

I've got a pair of EBs that I'm going to use, they'll give a bit of AC and increase my PL (meaning I sohuld be able to spend less on it anyway), DBs would be good, but won't allow me to concentrate my XP into MM.

I've got a 700K tattoo, I've not got the cash to start trading around for a named one. Come pay day (actually probably not this one..) I might re name my tat again, but the 4% won't help until my max level is above my tattoos level anyway. :)

You will run into major AMF troubles as you reach upper levels. The major damage you put out will be reduced by your opponents AC/ToE but the backlash will hit you full force. ToE is the only option IMO for a single mage. Starting out familiar is fine as you can quickly overcome the lower level AMF but evenutally I think you will want to make the change.

Babbler, no AMF in the game can keep up with the DD expenditure of a Single Mage.

I will hit times when fighting up, that high AMF s are causing problems to my lower DD, but that's only because 'm fighting up. Two characters of equal size, no AMF can be as large as a Single Mage's DD.

you could add an E, i know you dont want to, but DM/AS not so much AS but DM to weaken the AMF out there.

you should wear an AoI obviously, and maybe some DBs, I don't know the upgrade costs but nothing fancy probably +50 and leave it like that, and then you got +70 DBs.

and if you do recruit the E, it will have AS and let you train more into your DD spell anyway. probably not diluting the xp as much, but i don't know if you could get a better outcome by staying single.

just imo :)

I'd suggest at least an Amulet of AC. Spend half a mil on it, and you'll get some AC. You may not be focusing on defense, but I'm sure each bit will help. Overall, this sounds like a nice strategy.

AoAC won't help...AMF kills single mages 75% of the time, doubly so for non ToE single tanks

Flamey;
"you could add an E, i know you dont want to, but DM/AS not so much AS but DM to weaken the AMF out there."

I probably will have a little DM anyway, but me having DM won't weaken others AMF, only my own (which I can't have on a single minion). Unless you're suggesting getting a second minion to run both DM and AMF?

"you should wear an AoI obviously, and maybe some DBs, I don't know the upgrade costs but nothing fancy probably +50 and leave it like that, and then you got +70 DBs."

Why the AoI? The invisibility portion won't help (MM isn't effected by it, and will be the only tihng to hit my Mage), and if I'm trying to kill quick, Evasion doesn't seem a great priority. Ranged damage still hurts with a massive ELB, but it's glory days have passed! ;)

"and if you do recruit the E, it will have AS and let you train more into your DD spell anyway. probably not diluting the xp as much, but i don't know if you could get a better outcome by staying single."

I'd be very weak to DM though, unless I ditch the familiar and use a RoS. Which will significantly cut down on my damage output.

Pix;
"I'd suggest at least an Amulet of AC. Spend half a mil on it, and you'll get some AC. You may not be focusing on defense, but I'm sure each bit will help. Overall, this sounds like a nice strategy."

Thanks! :) The only reason I'm not overawed by a AoAC is that it won't help reduce the damage the mage will take from PL, which should be most of it (baring FB/MM of course... Hmm... only ranged damage then.)

Ah ha! I think that's made my choice! PL damage will come from Physical ranged damage mostly, which makes Evasion and AoI rather useless. Direct damage to my mage will come from FB spread or MM, in which case the AoAC will help more.

Nov;
"AoAC won't help...AMF kills single mages 75% of the time, doubly so for non ToE single tanks"

Not really worried about AMF. By the time I'm equal with people, I'll be dishing out more damage than I take. OF that, I'm sure. :)

Dishing out more damage than take...
You are right about this part however
you will be taking upwards of 100k a round in AMF damage, have fun.