MapleRoyals' Writing Contest [Unofficial]

Time to mix things up and submit a guide:

1. Introduction
2. Luk versus Luk-less
3. Skill Build
4. Training Locations
5. Recommended Equipment
6. Formulas
7. Credits

Ice/Lightning Mages are one of three Mage classes available for MapleRoyals. Their main focus is to freeze and deal massive amounts of damage to monsters in a large range. In this guide, I'll be covering their ability/skill spread, training locations, recommended equips and various formulas for Ice/Lightning Mages. Although their primary focus is extremely fast training and mob farming, they lack in raw DPS when it comes to bosses. Still, Ice/Lightning Mages are one of the most fun and unique classes that MapleRoyals has to offer.
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There's been a debate on whether going the traditional route of adding Luk to wear higher tier weapons and armors is better than going Luk-less and stick with only weapons and armors that require no Luk, but still give a sizable amount of Magic Attack and Int. I'm going to give my side of this argument, but feel free to choose one over the other for whatever reason you may have.

I believe going Luk-less is the better choice between the two. Why? I'm going to prove my stance by debunking common claims:

While this is true, most of them also require a bunch of Luk. Take, for example, Elemental Staves 5-8. They have extremely high Magic Attack, but with an extremely high Luk requirement to wield them. 1 Int equals 1 Magic Attack whereas 1 Luk doesn't increase Magic Attack at all so we can just subtract the Luk requirement from the Magic Attack and we'll get the actual value of the Staves itself. Of course, you will have equipment that will add Luk, but it's not going to be enough to even consider the higher level weapons.

Again, true, however let's not forget that Luk-less Mages will also have a good amount of Luk from equips such as Zakum Helmets and Horntail Necklaces. With those Luk boosts, Luk-less Mages have access to lower tier Luk Mage equips that also play a role into the Godly System without having to put a single point into Luk.

Weapon defense doesn't matter much when you're thinking long term. Most of the monsters hit high on you whether you have a lot of weapon defense or not. The armor pieces that arguably gives the most weapon defense are Zakum Helmets and Horntail Necklaces which both are Luk-less.


Levels 8-30
This is the typical build for every Mage starting out. If you're using an alternative method to level up from the lower levels, level up Energy Bolt after you've maxed out Improve MaxMP Increase. You'll want to max out Magic Claw right after because it's going to be your main skill for training.

Level 30-70
For optimal leveling, I suggest going with Teleport first for mobility and Thunderbolt. A mobbing skill is always extremely useful for training. Cold Beam isn't very useful because you'll be leveling up very fast anyway and there isn't any training location that's ice weak that gives very good XP or mesos. After Thunderbolt, Teleport should maxed right after to maximize distance per cast. I don't recommend putting points into Meditation early on because Wizard Elixirs from New Leaf City do the exact same thing, but last longer. Slow is not commonly used because most end game bosses are either stationary or already very slow. You'd probably be better off maxing out Magic Armor in your first job skill tree.

Levels 70-120
The core skills you'll be focusing on are Element Amplification, Ice Strike and Spell Booster. Other than these three skills, the rest of them aren't really important to max out. Thunder Spear is extremely slow, Seal has little to no use in many situations, Partial Resistant to Ice/Lightning doesn't happen very often and Element Composition a subpar 1v1 skill.

This is where skill builds will depend on what Elemental Wand/Staff you've obtained.

Focus on Ice Strike unless you have an Elemental Wand 4 (25% Lightning Damage/10% Ice Damage). With an Elemental Wand 4, you'll be able to do a lot of damage with Thunderbolt and can still be very useful post level 70 because of the extra speed it has over Ice Strike and the fact that attack range doesn't matter too much in early 70s and 80s. You'll have an easier time in the beginning 3rd job levels because the main training location will be Wolf Spiders. Focus on getting Spell Booster to level 11 for the +2 casting speed. After that, you'll go back to the traditional route of maxing Ice Strike, Element Amplification and Spell Booster.

Ice Strike is an extremely fun and effective skill. The range is amazing and really shines in certain training areas like Petrifighters. Make sure to get an Elemental Wand 3 for Ice Strike for the +25% Ice Damage.

If you have an Elemental Wand 4:

If you have an Elemental Wand 3:

Levels 120-200
Funding will play a major role in this build, but assuming you have access to most of the books, this is the best build you can do. The books that are difficult to obtain as of the writing of this guide are Maple Warrior 20 and Blizzard 30. If you don't have either of these books, skip to the next skill. You'll want to max out Blizzard as soon as possible because that's going to be your main attacking skill for the rest of the game. While Maple Warrior is important, base Magic Attack gives more DPS than a percentage of base Int that Maple Warrior provides. Plus, you can always party with someone that already has Maple Warrior. Most of the other skills are very situational or downright useless so after you've maxed out Blizzard and Maple Warrior to the most you can possibly can, play around with the other skills as you please. Chain Lightning is pretty fun at Zakum Arms and whenever it spawns a bunch of small mobs. Chain Lightning can be used to finish off monsters that need a bit more to die, but since it also mobs and can attack unprovoked monsters, it better to leave the revenge killing to Ifrit.

These levels go very quick. If you have the money, 8-20 can be done quickly just by turning in around 2,000 Orbis Exchange Etc. Items which only costs around 7m. I highly recommend doing this if you're not a starting player. If not, just head over to Slimes until level 15 and head over to Green/Horny Mushrooms until level 20. After level 20, you should have maxed Magic Claw and should be able to 1-2 shot Wild Boars and Dark Axe Stumps over at Land of the Wild Boar. This whole process shouldn't take longer than 3-4 hours.

Right when you get to level 30, I highly recommend you head over to Carnival Party Quest and get some Free Wins. Free Wins is when you go against one person in a solo party against a whole bunch of other people of which you will be a part of that bunch of people. In the end, you will get 120,000 XP for winning if you manage to stay over your opponent and maintain a score of over 500. This is an extremely fast way to get over the early levels of being an Ice/Lightning Mage, but Free Win parties can be hard to come by. If you're not able to find a party, go ahead and keep training at Wild Boars and Dark Axe Stumps. They're still really fast and with Teleport, the XP is still great.

Once you get a good amount of skill points into Thunderbolt, you can either make some mesos at Platoon Chronos or head over to Slimys @ Ghost Ship 2. Platoon Chronos drops Maple Shields quite often that can sell for around 2m and drop Scroll for Gloves Atk 60% and Power Crystal Ores. Slimys are weak to Lightning, but are pretty high level. However, even in lower levels, Slimys are the best mobs to train on until level 70 because of the massive spawn in the map.

During your late 50s or early 60s, you can head over to The Forest of Golem for some mesos and XP. While Slimys @ Ghost Ship 2 is still better in XP, Forest of Golem is no slouch. The mobs in the map are extremely thick and you can get a lot of mesos just by NPCing the equips and selling the Scroll for Gloves Atk 60%s.

Whether you go with the Elemental Wand 3 or 4 path, it's the same for the most part. Slimys are still pretty good very early on, but if you're funded enough to hit Wolf Spiders, they can give pretty good rates as well.

At level 75, leeching will become something to consider. Leeching gives you the best XP rates until you reach Petrifighters with very high funding or until you hit 120 where you can use Blizzard. If you have an alternative account that can leech your Ice/Lightning Mage, I suggest doing that. If not, you can always buy leech, but it can get very expensive. The only time I recommend going out of your way to buy leech is right when you hit level 75 because you're still trying to max out your core skills and you can take advantage of leeching to help you out.

Wolf Spiders are really nice for both XP and mesos thanks to their Ilbi Throwing Star drop and high value equips. Once you have enough Int to hit Slygies and you have a good amount of your core skills maxed out, head over to Veetrons and Slygies @ Ulu Estate II or Dreamy Ghosts @ Encounter with the Buddah. Dreamy Ghosts are slightly faster in XP, but Veetrons drops Red Cravens which can be sold for upwards of 200m for a 55 Attack.

During the later levels, you can either stay at Ulu Estate II for the mesos or head over to Petrifighters @Ulu City Center for the best XP until level 120. Petrifighters have a unique map where you can attack both the platform you're standing on and the platform below you. This makes for amazing XP and can be on par with leeching.

With Blizzard, training will change drastically. All you mainly need to worry about is whether you can be able to one or two shot many of training locations listed down below. You'll be able to make an optimal amount of money for the most part as well as gain the best XP for any class in the entire game.

The XP rates for these locations will vary based on mastery books and funding so be aware that the locations and levels that I put down may not be best locations for you so experiment on your own time and you'll find some place you'll enjoy. With that being said, I will not be putting down what level should go where, but that shouldn't be an issue because they give around the same ballpark in terms of XP.

Right when you get Blizzard, you should be able to one shot Wolf Spiders if you have a decent amount of Magic Attack as well as an Elemental Wand 3. You can also sell leech at this point, but not many people are going to want Wolf Spider leech without an Holy Symbol Mule. No matter, money at Wolf Spiders even without a leech is great.

Once you hit 130, Ulu Estate II can be possible to one shot. I suggest staying here for the long haul because Ulu Estate II gives great XP for a long time, amazing NPC rates, leechable map and the coveted Red Craven drop. Also at 130, you should be near two shot range of Oblivion Monk Trainees @ Path of Oblivion 2 which is a very popular training location for many high level players. With Holy Symbol, Road to Oblivion 2 can get you one of the best XP rates in the game.

If you have access to Blizzard 30, you should be able to one shot Petrifighters at level 165. One shot Petrifighters is the best XP rate at this level and is highly recommended to train here straight to level 200. This location is also prime for leeching and I suggest that you make a Holy Symbol mule to sell leech at Petrifighters.

Jr. Newties and Nest Golems @ Leafre: Destroyed Dragon Nest is an extremely relaxing area to train. All you need to do is stand on one platform and hold down the Blizzard key. You should be able to attack 6-7 monsters every single cast without even having to move from your location. This is also a great place to farm one of the most expensive drops in the game, Concertos.

This will be a work in progress because I'm going to be covering a lot, but here's a quick quote that I've written previously on another thread:

This is the formula for determining how much XP per kill your leech will get. Keep in mind that if you're using a Pre Big Bang database that you need to multiply the XP per monster by 4 because of MapleRoyals server rates.

This is the formula for determining the minimum amount of damage your magic spells can do. This is very useful to figure out if you can one shot a monster to make it a viable training location:

 

Why did you leave out the banners and somewhat changed the layout?

No quote, please, btw. I'll allow you to edit the post to re-add banners and the layout in the original version of this... Unless you want to submit it like this.

 

I thought you'd just be interested in the written text rather than the layout and organization.

 

We allowed to submit more than one thing or change our mind later?
Regardless, something I wrote personally just for a bit of character development of my 11 year old Hufflepuff character, and writing practice.
Potential trigger warning? Mentions (lightly) child abuse.
--

Spoiler

They say that abused kids run away, but what is one more bruise, or fight, when you’ve already made it through a hundred? Abused kids never get out.

There were some things about the past that were better left forgotten. Life was better when she didnt dwell on what happened back then - but every so often her mind drifted back anyway. When the chaos of the day died down, leaving her alone with her thoughts, every so often the soft flickering of the fire light would bring her back to the past. Even if she didn’t want to go there.

Her body tensed up, eyes clenched tight and fists balled up against the memories that felt all too real. The silence of the divination room was usually comforting, but now all it did was serve to reinforce how alone she felt, strengthening the memories of the past that flooded her mind once more.

He appeared before her eyes once again- she was just a child, and he was big. So much taller, dark and intimidating. Anger- it was evident in every move he made, every breath he took. It wasn’t her fault; whatever had stirred his anger had been out of her control.

With a shove he pinned her against the wall, his forearm pressed against her neck.
She was no older than 4 or 5- but that made no difference. Tears clung to the corners of her eyes but she knew she couldn’t show how she felt. She didn’t *dare* show it anymore- and by not showing it, she hoped she wouldn’t feel it either.

Because even as a child she had learned the need to keep her emotions under control. Even the slightest slip up could cause another magical mishap to happen- and it wasn’t good when anything magic happened around him, even if it was an accident.

Mum said he was a “muggle”, but- but he knew too much to just be a muggle. The hatred he had for it was far too high for simply not understanding it. But she -trusted- him. He was her father, of *course* she trusted him.

"You really shouldn’t be so trusting," he sneered in her face. "The world is a dangerous place. You’ll learn soon enough,"

These things happened all too often. Sometimes they weren’t even brought on by anything that she knew of- and never once did anyone ask about the bruises, nor the silence the girl fell into for days afterward. People turned a blind eye to the struggling girl, until one day he simply…left. No warning, no further word- and no further abuse.

The little girl began to grow up into a person afraid of the world around her. Though she had learned to fake a smile, inside she still hurt. She grew to be too sensitive to everything around her. Every noise felt like a potential threat, even more so if it was loud or unexpected.

She never truly smiled at people anymore, nor did she talk more than simple words or greetings.
No one could be trusted anymore- she truly believed everyone would hurt her, leave her, or both.
No one ever told her, or proved to her otherwise.

How could she learn? Parents are supposed to be there for you, to protect you. What was she to do when her foundation had been shaken and crumbled from such a young age?

When she was given the letter telling her of this school for people like her, she didn’t believe it. In fact, she feared it up until the day she stepped foot into the majestic room of the great hall- magic was to be hidden away, wasn’t it? Magic was to be locked away, only to pretend it didn’t exist. Yet…Here was a school that encouraged the exact opposite. She felt lost, overwhelmed and alone. It took many months to make a friend, only for them to wind up follow the pattern of her past- eventually leaving her alone once more.

The sensitivity only grew- by now she knew she was *different* than the rest. She started being able to see things no one else could- but each time she turned to someone for help, they refused to believe her. Each time she put her trust in someone, they left. They dismissed her- she was just a kid, how could she be anything special? Seers were rare, there wasn’t any way she could be one- or so they said.

"You really shouldn’t be so trusting,"
The words rang through her mind. Could he have been right?

He must’ve been right-
No.

It took one person to finally break her of her shell- one person to see past the frightened, broken girl and see her for who she really was. One person to understand all that she was, and all that she had gone through. She wasnt crazy, nor was she alone- at least not anymore.

It took a lot of time, a lot of hard-won trust, and a lot of encouragement. The truth was there- and she just had to believe in it. Believing in another person was much harder said than done, and it took many times of reaching rock bottom and gently being guided back out before it finally sank in.

Trusting wasn’t as impossible as she had been led to believe. At the very least, she could trust in this person. Although she was once solely a professor, she had become not just her mentor, but one of her closest friends. In time she grew to see her like a parent- a person of support that she never had before. Someone she could reach up to and talk about anything, no matter how big or how small. No matter what was on her mind, or on her heart- she would hear the girl out. Someone she knew, for once, she could trust entirely.

Though the wounds from the past never quite healed, she eventually began to open up again, and a true smile broke free.

And all it took was that soft, comforting voice breaking through the silence to bring her back out of her mind and into the present- shattering the reminders of the past until they were nothing but mere afterimages behind her eyes.

"Sila? Little badger, come now, shh, It’s okay-"

 

@Christopher Chance @Sila
Only one submission per person.

 

Seeing that you haven't edited, say, your training guide since my contest started, I'm willing to accept it. Would be good if you could provide me with an edit history (GMs and Admins can retrieve this for you). EDIT: They can't, apparently. I'll re-consider. Don't edit your guide. If I do decide to allow it, the edit history posted by you and the comments on the guide will be taken into consideration.

 

Made sure to use correct grammer in my guide (for the most part )

 

A guild thread is more like advertisement to me, so I'll have to say no. Feel free to submit something else, though.

 

So I'm planning on writing a short story but I'm still in my exams until the 26th of january. Will the deadline be between this and 20 days or will I still have a chance to write it ? I'll probably deliver it the 27th or 28th of january.

 

:/ There's no chance you can write it over the course of the next two weeks? I'm still thinking of a deadline, but the 28th is a bit late.

 

No, I can't risk it . No problem tho, gl to the other contestants.

 

Deadline: January 27th, 9:00 PM GMT.

That's another 3 weeks, should give everyone the chance to submit their best work. I'll also post the scores of the current entries soon (this week).

@Coryn If this isn't enough time, then I'm sorry. :/

 

Thanks, I'll try to find the time to write.

 

@Christopher Chance I am willing to allow your guild thread (i have the unedited version!) as submission. However, guild threads are easier to write than other things, so I still have to scale down your final score. Or are you working on something else?

Apart from that, any other people interested? o:

 

rigged.


Entry:
I fought a goat once, I lost.

 

10/10 best entry, made me cry

 

Can't even 1 hit Himes Jajaja

 

Munny talks. Don't be a hater.

 

gen30 too weak

 

Alright, the scores so far:

1. pseudonym, 84%
2. Sila, 79%
3. Insanity Cow, 77%
4. Plenty, 72%
5. Christopher Chance, 67%

There's still a possible victory for anyone!

You can request a detailed analysis of your submission, I'll be writing those in decent form today/tomorrow. If you disagree with your score/analysis, you're allowed to convince me that you deserve a higher score. Only give good and constructive arguments based on good reasoning, though!