Nox/Necro/Mage Build questions

Giperborey

New player here. Could you please help me with my build?

I've read https://forum.uo.com/discussion/6498/nox-necro-mage-build-advice-on-how-to-use-him but still don't have clear understanding on how to play Nox Necro Mage for PvM.

My current build:

FC: 2 / FCR: 6 / LRC: 100 / LMC: 40 / MR: 30 / SDI: 105 / RES: Max

Looks like I suck at any aspect of PvM cause I don't understand how to play Mages.

What I usually do for fighting:

• Use slayer books
• Corpse Skin + Evil Omen + Poison Filed -> Lethal Poison (seems not helpful at all)
• Corpse Skin + Evil Omen + Flamestrike / Chain Lighting (Sometimes deal good damage, but slow)
• Energy Vortex / Summon Daemon / Animate Dead -> For tanking (they don't lasts long enough)

What I usually do for self-buff:

• Bless -> Always
  
• Magic Reflection  -> When fighting mage monsters

Never use:

• Protection -> Don't understand when it's helpful since it provides huge debuf

Toughest monsters I can kill:

• Miasma -> Daemon + Corpse Skin + Evil Omen + Flamestrike
• Grobu -> Vortex+ Corpse Skin + Evil Omen + Poison Field + Flamestrike
• White Wyrm in Ice Dungeon -> Magic Reflection + Corpse Skin + Evil Omen + Flamestrike + Run around

What do I do wrong? What else spells should I use? What monsters should I try to fight and how?

I've been in the:

• Shame -> monster looks buffed, I couldn't be able to fast kill even elementals (Air/Flame)
• Doom -> more or less I was able to fight local monsters but don't understand what to do here, so was just circling around Ferryman and killing everything
• Labyrinth -> I can't deal with Rend or Pyre or bunch of Minotaurs
• Wrong -> not much luck here as well

Maybe mage is not supposed to adventuring solo? Maybe I don't need poison for PvM, but in the mentioned post above someone stated that Nox Mage could doing crazy in Sleeping Dungeon (but how?). Maybe I should drop Necro?

Are there any not very hard dungeons for explore? Is it possible to kill champs/bosses with this template? Maybe there are some good PvM learning videos on how to play mages?

I'm not interested in playing warriors, I love being mage.

Thanks in advance.

Arnold7

I play nox necro mage too which is quite similar to yours.  I cast protection, reactive armor and magic reflection on myself.  Without protection my spells fizzle a lot when the going gets hot.  I use the same spell sets you do for the most part but I do one you have not mentioned.
Do you have the mage mastery?  One technique that works great for me on stronger monsters is to cast a relevant on the monster and then go invisible.  When the monster focuses on the relevant, I hit it with the mastery death ray (the death ray works with slayers too).  The death ray does more damage per hit than any of my direct damage spells.  Usually, the monster will go down before the relevant times out.  Also, mastery allows you too restore your mana one time when it runs out.
Agree playing a mage in the close confines of a dungeon is difficult because you mostly have distance weapons that don’t have the leech qualities or speed of a melee weapon.  I would like advice on how to play this character too.
Don’t overlook wither for low level spawns.  It can be quite deadly at close range.  Poison field is also works great on followers that can be poisoned.

Arnold7

Also, give yourself an edge.  Cast fire elemental (my favorite anyway) have it guard and follow you.  It’s almost as good as a pet.

Arnold7

Note one more thing.  After the monster focuses on your relevant get in close and cast poison on it.  Forgot you had poisoning.  Generally with stronger monsters I do this sequence.  It is very effective on many monsters: paralyze, relevant, invis., poison, invis., death ray.  Generally, I cast invis. so that the monster stays focused on the relevant.  Also, if you are beginning chased, placing a poison field in the monsters path can do significant damage over time.

Giperborey

Thanks for your tips. What's relevant? Did you mean Revenant?

Giperborey

Arnold7

Do you know how Poisoning works in combination with magery? I've posted question here (https://forum.uo.com/discussion/7880/poisoning-and-magery) but looks like nobody knows the answer.

Giperborey

Could you please share as well what Locations/Dungeons/Bosses/Champs you can do solo?

Arnold7

Yes, I meant Revenant.  Have been playing about two years and never noticed the way it was spelled.  Like to use revenants because I can cast them on the target.  I try to paralyze the target first because it sometimes requires several attempts to cast the revenant.

if I remember right I was a little disappointed that mages are pretty much limited to level 4 poison.  You need to grandmaster poisoning to get level 4 from the poison field spell.  It is worth the effort. Think you have a 10% chance for level 5.  Think that is the best you can do.  Poison field can be really helpful when you are being chased.  I think poison spell works the same except that you have to get in really close to your target to get level 4.  Don’t believe as a mage you get any benefit from taking poisoning over 100.  Poisoning does gradual damage over time.  You can poison things, then leave and come back later to finish them off.

Have not soloed any dungeons.  I created macro so that all my direct damage spells, healing spell, and invisibility are on the calculator pad of my computer so that I can access all of them very quickly with my right hand. Use invisibility a lot in dungeons as well as summons.  Wish I could help more. 

Arnold7

Thanks for the tip on evil omen.  Will have to give that a try.

Giperborey

Arnold7 said:

You need to grandmaster poisoning to get level 4 from the poison field spell.

No, you don't need GM Poison.

The formula is:

(Magery + Poisoning) / 2

should be 100 to cast Deadly Poison Field.

I though there are benefits of being GM Poisoning like longevity or strength, but looks like the only benefit is 10% chance for Deadly.

Evil omen is much better cause it gives you 100% chance

Innoxicated

@Arnold7 @Giperborey nox mage bretheren!

With evil omen you can inflict lethal poison, which also damages stamina every tick as well as health. Handy that the necro spell Strangle does damage that scales with the targets stamina (or lack thereof I guess lol)

The formula is magery + poisoning = 200 to inflict deadly poison (then bump with EO to lethal) so 120 mage only needs 80 nox (poisoning doesn't go higher than gm). I only use poison field, the regular poison spell does scale the strength of the poison with distance. You don't have to be chased, you just have to be creative. 

drop a field directly on the mob while Its sitting still, say x-fielded or attacking a summon, you can cast evil omen AFTER and still get it on them before the poison status is applied. This is way easier than casting SO and kiting them through a field

Its tough to time it, but if you can get the necro mastery Conduit off on a group of mobs, you can evil omen all of them within the area of effect with one quick cast. Then toss a nox field in their path and watch them all *spasm uncontrollably*. It's beautiful


TLDR @devs conduit should cast faster or have a larger area and people would probably actually use it    ... I know deep down in your hearts there is a love for black and green things