Only-Arcane Mage short - guide

[sofocles]

This is a very simple build, quite straightforward. Very Heavy on sustains. You need to always stay high on lvls so dont go to dreadfall until 25 or so. Survival from 20 to 35 isnt easy.
Race of course is Higher (human)

Stat allocation:
Magic until 30, then magic/ con until con at 40 : at 40 + items you should be able to 5/5 thick skin , then max magic / wisdom to 20(30) then cunning End game: magic 60 wis 40 con 40 cun 40 and 29 points to spare (suggestions where to put them?)

Spell/ Arcane: You will 20/20 this
- Arcane power 5/5 Early
- Arcane Thrust 5/5 Earliest: your main dmg spell
- Arcane vortex : 5/5 in your 20s 1/5 in your teens? explosion effect is important in strategy
- Disruption shield 5/5 one point early and dont max it until late game.

Spell/ Aether : You will 20/20 this but start with
- aether beam 5/5 . learn how to use it, be patient and let it spin, where to place it so it doesnt kill you and does the most dmg is critical for some tuff boses. CAN BE PLACED IN WALLS

-Aether breach 5/5 is an ability i dont like. It can do massive dmg but the 1 turn in between explosions makes it imho too slow and the fact that it can sometimes explote in the wrong place (area where it can explote and area of effect arent the same, area effect is smaller) makes it annoying, still for the orc ambush for example it is VERY powerfull.

- Aether avatar 5/5 is the tricky one: You need to learn to play it to become really powerful with this mage, the key is to prepare: use your mana infusion BEFORE it, then usually heal (meaning SHIELD)+ aegis THEN use aether avatar. 1 point to get to pure aether and 5/5 very late game. Try it Alone to find how limited you are when ur using it. Items ARE usable:

- Pure aether: 5/5 when you have some time, only important when bosses start to get very high resistance : NEED 5 to use aether avatar

Spell/meta
- Disperse magic: 1/5 early max very late
Spell craft: 5/5 quite important to use spells next to you max before orc ambush
- Quicken Spells: Inmediate 5/5
- Metaflow: 0/5 doesnt get you above lvl 5 and since ur maxing everything all lvls are above 5

- Spell/Temporal:
1,1,1,5
Ur here for Essence of speed (250mana sustain)
I havent found any feedback on congeal time or time shield so im not sure about them, with aegis you can get bonus to several shields. Not sure how many high lvl enemies are susceptible to congeal time

Last but not least: Flame: ?/5 It will help you a lot early game: you can cheat around a bit and put points on and off so with one point you can max it and recover 4 points.. you have to remember everytime you lvl up...

Unused points: 6

Generic talents: This is a bit tricky since there are many important things. Surviving is most important but you wont have enough mana to use all the sustains until quite late.

Race Higher: 1,1,5,1 (0)
Ur here for born into magic

Combat training:
- 5/5 thick skin and 1 for armour ONLY when you get something wortwhile (and the one wortwhile object is Dakthun gaunlets)

Spell / Conveyance
- phase door 1/5
- teleport 1/5
- Displacement shield ?/5 i usually 0 because i always forget to use it
- Probability travel: 0/5

Spell / Divination
- Arcane eye: 1/5
- Keen senses 5/5 : this build needs crits
- Vision: ?/ 5
- Premonition: ?/5 Really not sure about this

Spell / Aegis (5/5/5/2 or ?)
Ok if u want to live u need to turn this sustains on: Healing `+ getting a shield + making shields strong is a MUST

Arcane reconstruction : early 2 points maxed by lvl 40
Shielding: Early 2 points maxed in 30s (+1 turn)
Arcane shield: 2 points before 20.
Aegis: 1 point until 30s . 2/5 in 40s Max or not i cant say for sure

Unused generic points: 6 not sure where: max aegis? premonition? displacement shield?

Escorts:
Most important GET HEALING LIGHT: can crit and heal ALL ur life: no mana cost and cooldown is 8.
Chant of light: tons of saves
Magic, magic, magic, magic, magic if not then wis cun or cons

Brotherhood Alchemists: (from most important to least)
1 +4% spell crit
2 +3 mag+3wis
3
+ 2 category points
+3 str +3 con
+5 luck

Prodigies:
1. Aether permeation : It was meant for you... get it asap
2. ????? Eye of the tiger or elemental surge... i cant decide, need help

Important items:
Vestments of the conclave: +17 arcane dmg + 17 % crit
+9cun +9 magic... YOU NEED THIS. tier 2 becomes a tier 5 item when YOU wear it. Suggest starting over without it
Lost staff of archmage tarelion: lots of cool staff but specially +12 mana on crit meaning you loose a lot less mana when you get close to 100% crit chance.

Early game: hat of arcane understanding + staff of arcane supremacy : BIG bonus to all things of urs, the staff -1 cool down to mana thrust... very cool and together they also give +100mana...

-Void orb: Megaawesome ring : extra manathrust to fire....

-Spellblaze echos (amulet): +15 spellpower everytime you crit so (almost always) +45 to spell power....

- Dakthun gauntlets: +10% crit chance +50%crit increase

- Aetherwalk (boots): +arcane resistance cap is VERY important for you and extra phase door you can use when in aether avatar is also quite important.

Anybody know items that increase arcane resistance cap?

Infusions:
Heal
Shield or heroism (depending on what you found)
Manasurge (if your hat has manasurge maybe wild: physical)

Some notes:
- Abuse healing light for a free shield with low cooldown
- You die very fast in mid game, try to always keep shields up
- Against small tight groups vortex to start, if you blow it up it has small aoe

Sustains: Arcane power (50) , Pure aether (50) , Spellcraft (70) , Quicken Spells (80), Essence of speed (250)
Keen senses (40) , Shielding (40) , Arcane Shield (50), Chant of light .:630 MANA

[peacedog]

I haven't played a Higher in awhile, but I don't see how you could hit 25 before Dreadfell, even if you did the Elven Ruins on top of everything else. I usually have trouble hitting 21 with a halfling Alchemist having done everything but possibly the Ruined Dungeon and then leaving the Elven Ruins.

[tylor]

Thanks for great guide. Build itself looks extremely gear-dependent, though.

[Cryo]

For a second prodigy, I would highly recommend Cauterize - it's easily the best prodigy in game afterall. Espicially so for archmages who are somewhat fragile and also posses ways to get away from battle and soak Cauterize damage through shields. Saved my chars alot.
As for metaflow, it seemed to me that it refered not to levels but to tiers(i.e. Flame - 1st tier, Flameshock -2nd, etc), am I wrong?

Premonition is useless for build - since AFAIK it acts before damage is done and thus reacts to a specific damage type, giving you, for example, fire resistance boost - while under Aether Permeation only your arcane resist matters.
I would recommend to put at least 4 points in phase door, since random teleport within small radius often result in pretty much the same situation while wasting a turn. Phase door 4 also becomes targettable and thus has an immense value as an escort saver.

I find it strange to value +3 Mag +3 Wis from alchemist so high: +3 to spell power becomes negligible in mid and late game, +12 mana is nice, but not much also - you can get much, much more from a single equip slot. On the other hand two generic points could be spent to get you to Probability Travel. True lifesaver, when you got disspelled and manaclashed by those damn orcs magehunters, while two class points could be employed(along with a couple of other, sadly) to get Entomb - yet another nice escape/timeout option.

[Parcae2]

Yes, Premonition works based on tiers, not rank. Same as Snap and that Wildgift talent whose name currently escapes me.

[sofocles]

To hit 25 before dreadfell you must do adventurers and or farportal.

Cryo:
What is a better staff than tarelion? the +12 mana on crit is very important in this build because of so many sustains it is usually very short on mana pool. But the staff also has dmg penetration +40% arcane dmg + 40 mana + 25%spellcrit

Havent tried cauterize, will do.
Phase door: I very rarely get surround by mobs and since i can BOMB around myself+spinning wheel + disruption shield explosion if mobs do get too close together they are quite easily whiped out. In fact its usually casters , dragon breath from afar that can kill me, because they arent together and while you kill one the others do get some nasty effects through you. 9 out of 10 times i use teleport to escape.

[Cryo]

Tarelion seem optimal for an arcane build,

Yes, teleport is a better solution for most of situation, still it won't help you to save Melinda and is quite risky, when you just arrived at a level and there is a lot of dangerous places. Well, maybe I'm to caucios of a player - I tend to hoard escapes. My latest winner - fire archmage by the end game had Entomb, Phase Door, Teleport, Probability Travel as tallents, along with torque of psychoportation, boots of telecenetic leap and entombing hat. =)
Not to mention 6 different shields, and 3 heals...

[sofocles]

you could probably play rogue-like ... i cant ,its just too stressfull for me to enjoy

ALso the +3magic + 3wis vs 2 points... it all depends on how good is time shield or the congeal time (or both) but yeah maybe its a better option.

In anycase its a quite simple and powerful build to try!

[ghostbuster]

I wonder if anybody has tried the "secret of telos" prodigy? The Telos Spire seems extremely powerful for this kind of build (+37% arcane dmg, 15% arcane dmg affinity, 30%spell crit, 30% crit power, and many other goodies)...

[sofocles]

secret of telos seems overkill with tarelion and endgame staff, though if you didnt get tarelion it could be reasonable... the crit thing being the best about it imho.

Cauterize seems a better choice if you want to live longer

Also remember tarelion +12mana on crit... you can actually get mana back with that.. (pool is very small because of so many sustains)

[Earwicker]

Spell/ Arcane: You will 20/20 this
- Arcane power 5/5 Early

Because of rescaling, Arcane Power will give you a very negligible bonus by endgame... yet still eating 50 of your precious mana to sustain. A waste of points in my opinion.

- Aether avatar 5/5 is the tricky one: You need to learn to play it to become really powerful with this mage, the key is to prepare: use your mana infusion BEFORE it, then usually heal (meaning SHIELD)+ aegis THEN use aether avatar.

There's an easier way if you're lucky enough to find the Void Orb. Add Quicken Spells, and now Aether Avatar's CD matches its duration, and since it's an instant cast it means you can use it as a sustain of sorts with 'auto-use when available'. Do the same with your manasurge rune (or better yet, set it on 'auto-use when no enemies are visible', since this one costs a turn.) Click on your disruption shield, and hit auto-explore. See, everything is automated
Aegis I prefer to keep as an insurance card rather than casting it upon entering combat (as long as your disruption shield holds, it makes no difference if you cast it sooner or later anyway, and since it's also an instant cast you'd better keep it for when you really need it.)
Works fine for me, although it works best with a large mana pool. Just remember to toggle your disruption shield off/on after each big fight, or you'll end up stacking so much damage your own manastorm will annihilate you eventually.

Spell/meta
- Disperse magic: 1/5 early max very late

3/5 not too late, so you can target it.

- Metaflow: 0/5 doesnt get you above lvl 5 and since ur maxing everything all lvls are above 5

???

- Spell/Temporal:
1,1,1,5
Ur here for Essence of speed (250mana sustain)

Tried it, didn't like it. 250 is an awful lot for a build you want to abuse disruption shield with. Nowadays I'd pick Phantasm rather than Temporal for my arcane builds. Especially with a Higher.

Combat training:
- 5/5 thick skin and 1 for armour ONLY when you get something wortwhile (and the one wortwhile object is Dakthun gaunlets)

Don't be too eager to max Thick Skin if you plan to pick the Aether Permeation prodigy. Depending on the +arcane resist gear you find, it might turn out to be a waste of generic points eventually.

Prodigies:
1. Aether permeation : It was meant for you... get it asap
2. ????? Eye of the tiger or elemental surge... i cant decide, need help

Remember Aether Avatar disables inscriptions, so anything that help with status is good. Unbreakable Will would be my second pick.

Some notes:
- Abuse healing light for a free shield with low cooldown
- You die very fast in mid game, try to always keep shields up

On the contrary I've found my Aether Archmages to be quite resilient in midgame. The key is maintaining a big mana pool (at least 500-ish by level 30, sustains not included), and keeping it less than half full. The few deaths I have typically happen when I level up during a big fight (I really hate it when the game messes up with my mana-gement )

[sofocles]

Wow Earwicker, great comments, i hadnt thought about a lot of that stuff,

The metaflow effect, resets spells but only if their spell lvl is 5 or less, so since ur effective lvl will be something between 6 and 7 for most spells it is useless.

The aether avatar combo with void orb looks really powerful

How do you use phantasm?

[Kaja Rainbow]

Actually, Metaflow is based on the talent's "tier", not its level. In other words, level 1 resets the first talent in trees, level 2 resets the second talent in trees, too, and level 4 resets all talents in trees.

[Earwicker]

The metaflow effect, [...]

What Kaja said. It's easy to check if you have the full Channelers set equipped, as the hat gives you a less-than-level-5 Metaflow that still will reset the CD of your level 5 Manathrust, Aether Beam, etc. Very useful at times - like when you're stunned and can't use your wild without turning Aether Avatar off first.

The aether avatar combo with void orb looks really powerful

I forgot to say that with the aforementioned hat, it's even better, as the CD on your disruption shield CD is set to... zero. Very useful to 'purge' the stacked damage on your shield without taking a turn, when you're going toe-to-toe with hard hitters like, say, Atamathon (last time I did I had a 1300+ mana pool after sustains, with a 0.16 damage-to-mana conversion rate on the shield - I even spent a catpoint on the Arcane tree just for that - and that was before Aegis. The poor golem didn't stand a chance )

How do you use phantasm?

Illuminate - can't be used with Aether Avatar obviously, but synergizes well with arcane builds, since you'll want Spellcraft anyway and spellshocked critters are easier to blind. A good panic button at the very least.

Blur Sight and Phantasmal Shield - both very cheap sustains you can thus use with Aether Avatar. If you rely on being hit in melee a lot to generate mana through disruption shield (no Tarelion staff, say), you might as well want to make them pay for trying to maul you - then use Phantasmal Shield. If you have no problem with mana generation but run on a smallish pool, and have decent +defense gear, Blur Sight becomes a very attractive option, as meleers and archers will have a harder time landing hits (and thus break your shield.) In the latter case you could even spend some points on Dex and pick Swift Hands as your second prodigy, which is good to have on Aether Avatar heavy builds. Can't use inscriptions, use activatable items instead to cure status or whatever. Keep the Staff of Arcane Supremacy or a void-walker in the alt slot and instant-switch when you need it. Whatever. New options are always welcome when your standards ones are limited by Aether Avatar.

Invisibility - doubles as both an escape and an intel utility, I really like it with Higher Archmages when I can spend 5 points on Overseer of Nations. And it makes Swift Hands (see above) look even better, as you can switch lites or equip what you need to reduce your light radius to zero or less in the blink of an eye. At 150 mana it looks like a costly sustain, but contrary to Essence of Speed you're not supposed to have it on while fighting, which makes the concern irrelevant. Not necessary to have, but very useful at times - and above all, very fun to abuse .

To summarize - there's nothing really essential in the Phantasm tree, but a lot of useful things that synergize rather well with arcane builds. (In my opinion anyway.)

[Earwicker]

Important items:
Vestments of the conclave: +17 arcane dmg + 17 % crit
+9cun +9 magic... YOU NEED THIS. tier 2 becomes a tier 5 item when YOU wear it. Suggest starting over without it

Oh, by the way... none of my Arcane/Aether mages were lucky enough to ever find the Vestments, although most of them eventually completed the Crystalline set. Comes way later in the game than the Vestments, but it's a decent substitute (more defensive than offensive, though.)