War mage

War Mages are a mutant sub-type of the Wizard profession.

War Mages generally rely on moderately strong physical attacks in combination with high damage factor weapons and the utility spell Haste (506). Due to the low cost of Spell Aiming, War Mages are generally (but not always) capable of bolt attacks, although not at the same strength of as a pure wizard.

Stat Placement and Race Selection

As the primary Wizard statistics, Aura and Logic remain extremely important for training point purposes.

Unlike for bolt-casting Wizards, Strength and Agility are more important statistics than Dexterity. Although Dexterity remains an important statistic for War Mages, it should be placed at a moderate level, since it rises quickly and generally won't be relied upon early. Additionally, a moderate to high Constitution is useful for improving hitpoints and encumberance, since a War Mage is more considerably more likely to be hit than a bolt-casting Wizard.

Since a War Mage will never be able to achieve the physical attack strength (AS) and redux of a Square, it is important that a War Mage maximize their AS and DS however possible. For this reason, it is highly recommended that a War Mage select a race with a neutral or positive strength and agility modifier. A non-Voln society alighnment can also be beneficial, as this makes available AS and DS boosters of up to +35. High enchant weapon, shield (if any) and armor are also recommended.

Primary Training Recommendations

War Mages train roughly equally in both physical and magical skills. Important skills include Two-Handed Weapons or Polearms, Armor Use, Combat Maneuvers, Physical Fitness, Arcane Symbols, Magic Item Use, Spell Aiming, Harness Power, Spell Research, and Elemental Lore.

Two-Handed Weapons or Polearm Weapons

This is a War Mage's primary attack skill, and should thusly be singled in for life. War Mages rely on weapons with a high damage factor (DF) to make up for their lack of AS. Two-Handed Weapons have a overall higher DF than Polearms, but lack the ability to use the combat maneuver Trip.

A few War Mages use One-Handed Weapons and a Shield, but is much less common due to the high training point costs. (An example of this is Krakiipedia contributor Greysleeve, who specializes in longswords.)

Armor Use

War Mages take hits more often and cast spells less often than pure Wizards. As such, Leather Breastplate (27 skill points) or Cuirbouilli Leather (35 skill points) offer the best combination of protection, spell failure, and training point cost. War Mages often settle for Full Leather or Double Leather until considerably later in their career. (Note that one hand and shield War Mages get hit significantly less than the archetypical War Mage, so the heavier armor may not be necessary.)

Physical Fitness

It is strongly suggested that a War Mage reach their maximum hitpoints as soon as possible. However, although additional training past this point offers some minor mechanical advantages, these training points are best spent elsewhere.

Arcane Symbols and Magic Item Use

Useful for reading/CASTing scrolls and using wands. Since War Mages don't use runestaves, there is little point in training past the point where they can effectively use any scroll or wand.

Spell Aiming

Since War Mages rarely use Elemental Focus (513) and generally have lower Dexterity than their pure counterparts, their bolt-casting abilities will be considerably weaker. However, Spell Aiming is cheap to train, and is incredibly useful against turtled creatures, the undead, and creatures with bolt susceptibilities. Highly recommended to train in, unless you are short on training points.

Harness Power

Even War Mages need mana, which makes this is a mandatory skill. However, War Mages consume less mana than pure Wizards (particularly while hunting), so training beyond 1x may not be necessary.

Spell Research

War Mages will want as many spells ranks as they can comfortably afford.

Combat Maneuvers

Despite the lack of maneuvers available to Wizards, and despite its high training point cost, Combat Maneuvers remains an important skill to train in. The +.5 AS that comes with each training is its primary benefit, although Feint and Trip become extremely effective after three or four ranks when used in combination with Haste (506). Precision is also useful when facing creatures immune to one or another types of damage (such as stone trolls and many golems, who are immune to punctures.)

Later in their career, War Mages often add a couple ranks of Disarm, as it helps them resist disarming attempts by higher level creatures.

Secondary Training Recommendations

Elemental Mana Control (EMC)

Since War Mages use relatively little mana, they will not need to rely on Mana Leech (516) as much as pure Wizards do. Consequently, it is relatively unimportant for a War Mage to immediately train in EMC. Eventually shoot for 24 ranks (102 skill bonus) in EMC.

Elemental Lore

The addition of elemental lores, particularly Elemental Lore, Air, have made War Mages even more effective. 24 ranks in Air Lore will gain War Mages an additional two Floating Disk (511) items, Tonis Bolt, and most importantly, a -1 second reduction in Haste roundtime.

Elemental Lore, Earth also provides useful benefits, such as an increase in Strength (509) AS, as well as an increase in the hardness of Stone Skin (520).

Climbing and Swimming

Get them if you can't get where you need to go.

Perception, Survival, First Aid, and Spiritual Mana Control

All provide useful benefits, if you have the training points available.

Spell Training

War Mages train similarly to pure Wizards, with regards to spells. Key ranks of spell research are Elemental Targetting (425), Floating Disk (511) and Melgorehn's Aura (913). Haste (506) is also extremely useful as a hunting enhancer.

Defensive Spells

• Elemental Defense I (401) - +5 DS, +5 Elemental TD
• Elemental Defense II (406) - +10 DS, +10 Elemental TD
• Elemental Defense III (414) - +20 DS, +20 Elemental TD
• Elemental Barrier (430) - +15 DS, +15 Elemental TD (increases)
• Thurfel's Ward (503) - +20 DS (increases)
• Elemental Deflection (507) - +20 Bolt DS (increases)
• Elemental Bias (508) - +20 Elemental TD
• Stone Skin (520) - Reduces damage
• Temporal Reversion (540) - Chance for +200 DS on successful hit
• Prismatic Guard (905) - +5 DS, +20 Bolt DS (increases)
• Melgorehn's Aura (913) - +10 DS, +20 Elemental TD
• Wizard Shield (919) - +50 DS

All of these spells are extremely important to a War Mage, and should be trained to as soon as possible, with the exception of Elemental Barrier (430), Stone Skin (520), Temporal Reversion (540), and Wizard Shield (919).

Offensive Spells

• Elemental Targetting (425) - +25 AS, +25 Elemental CS, +13 CS (increases)
• Strength (509) - +15 Physical AS (increases with Elemental Lore, Earth training)

Although War Mages do use bolt spells, they primarily rely on their weapons for their offensive capabilities. It is imperative to learn these spells as soon as they available. Elemental Focus (513) gives a bonus of +20 bolt AS, but at a cost of -40 Physical AS. Due to this penalty, War Mages rarely use this spell.

Attack Spells

• Elemental Wave (410)
• Elemental Dispel (417)
• Major Elemental Wave (435)
• Tremors (909)

The most important attack spell for War Mages to achieve is Tremors (909), which is considerably more effective against like-level and above-level creatures than Elemental Wave (410). However, Elemental Wave is useful when hunting in busy areas, so as to not disturb those hunting nearby.

Continued Training

Further training in Spell Research past learning all of the available spells provise the following combat benefits:

Minor Elemental Circle: +.5AS/rank (until 74 ranks), +.25CS/rank (until 72 ranks), .5 MRB DS/rank (indefinitely), .5 Elemental TD/rank (indefinitely)

Major Elemental Circle: .25DS/rank (indefinitely), .5 MRB DS/rank (indefinitely), increased maximum Stone Skin (520) thickness.

Wizard Circle: .25 MRB DS/rank, 1 DS/rank, .33 Elemental TD/rank

MRB DS: Melee, Ranged, and Bolt defense strength

Due to the attack strength bonus from Elemental Targetting (425), War Mages should train in the Minor Elemental Circle until maximizing its benefit at the 74th rank. Although it is worthwhile to train in the Major Elemental Circle until receiving the -1 RT Haste bonus, it is more effective to use further Spell Training ranks in the Wizard Circle for the DS bonus.

Haste (506)

Haste (506) is the single most critical spell in a War Mages' spellbook. It allows the War Mage to attack with a greatly reduced roundtime. Below is a transcript of a War Mage attacking a like-level Mountain Troll.

> incant 506
You recite a series of mystical phrases while raising your hands, invoking Haste...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture.
You begin to notice the world slow down around you.  Strange.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
(Forcing stance down to guarded)

> stance def
You are now in a defensive stance.

A mountain troll swings a flail at you!
  AS: +190 vs DS: +266 with AvD: +43 + d100 roll: +36 = +3
   A clean miss.

> stance off
> kill
You are now in an offensive stance.
You swing a vultite maul at a mountain troll!
  AS: +193 vs DS: +73 with AvD: +38 + d100 roll: +59 = +217
   ... and hit for 75 points of damage!
   Whoosh!  Several ribs driven into lungs.
   The mountain troll is stunned!
Roundtime: 5 sec.
Roundtime changed to 2 seconds.

> kill
You swing a vultite maul at a mountain troll!
  AS: +193 vs DS: +52 with AvD: +38 + d100 roll: +28 = +207
   ... and hit for 60 points of damage!
   Internal organs bruised.
Roundtime: 5 sec.
Roundtime changed to 2 seconds.

> kill
You swing a vultite maul at a mountain troll!
  AS: +193 vs DS: +50 with AvD: +38 + d100 roll: +2 = +183
   ... and hit for 45 points of damage!
   Blow to back cracks several vertebrae.
Roundtime: 5 sec.
Roundtime changed to 2 seconds.

> kill
You swing a vultite maul at a mountain troll!
  AS: +193 vs DS: +48 with AvD: +38 + d100 roll: +60 = +243
   ... and hit for 111 points of damage!
   Crushing blow to the spine!
  The mountain troll slumps to the ground.
The mountain troll falls to the ground and dies.
The deep blue glow leaves a mountain troll.
Roundtime: 5 sec.
Roundtime changed to 2 seconds.

> stance def
You are now in a defensive stance.

As the War Mage gains ranks in Major Elemental Circle and Elemental Lore, Air, roundtimes will continue to reduce, allowing the War Mage to wield larger weapons in a shorter roundtime. Gaining 27 ranks in Major Elemental Circle and 24 ranks of Elemental Lore, Air will drop a War Mage's attack RT to 1 second, effectively doubling his or her attack speed.

Advantages

• War Mages are very flashy, often impressing those who watch them in action.
• Up until around level 20 or so, War Mages are able to successfully hunt creatures roughly twice their level.
• War Mages have a very effective bolt defense, making them much less vulnerable to bolt attacks than the typical two-handed weapon user.
• War Mages have a wide variety of attacks, making them effective against most creatures.
• With enough training in Elemental Lore, Air and the Major Elemental spell circle, War Mages can swing heavy weapons such as two handers and polearms in one second using Haste.
• War Mages have higher TD and offensive stance DS than squares.
• The rare OHE/shield War Mage can have a rather effective physical defense, at the cost of taking longer to kill their prey (as the damage factor is lower); however, this is still effective as they can effectively kill anything that they can consistently hit without being consistently hit themselves. It is possible to achieve 1 second sword roundtimes and "cut to ribbons" your prey.

Disadvantages

• Although grouped War Mages are helpful in a utility role, such as buffing and casting Tremors (909), it is difficult for them to gain experience while hunting, as they tend to kill creatures very quickly.
• Their low AS compared to squares means that War Mages may find themselves falling back to using bolt spells more regularly as they gain levels.
• War Mages do not gain any redux due to their spell training and must therefore be careful to not get hit, lest they suffer serious damage.