Priority Abilities to cook to Lvl 10

[Raingold]

With Warrior, Whirlwind was the obvious choice. This time, I've got 2 Research slots, but getting few BoLs. Have several Abilities at 9, except passives, using all slots. I'm doing ELR with GM Fire Mage with Sash of the Ignitor, ToS, VoWS. Playing on tablet, so opted for DfA build based on helpful pinned Guide here.

The lack of BoLs is a major hangup, and I don't have time to try to score more outside of trials. I've got 36 hours and 24 hours left on two I'm cooking to 9. I want to get both CTs.

The Meteor possibilty at 10 for primary Firebolt attack looks like it might be the most useful for ANB. Gaining another bolt with DfA could help, too. No idea how significant the 1 second on Frost Nova and the slightly larger area on Immolate might be. Some of these abilities are new to me.

Also, any tips on drawing mobs? The advice to run down the middle and fire shots, plus Vortex, is all I've got.

I just reached T65 and got killed by Vortexed mobs a couple times, so I scored more gems and added Armor and Vitality Brilliants to my gear. Also practicing moving and DfA more while engaging mobs to evade those one-shot distance killers.

I maxed my speed to 27, still challenging to clear the map fast enough. Any suggestions? BTW, I have the full ELR and GM set with Integrales Mantle and recipes for all of it. Just upgraded Igneus to Legendary. Thanks.

[Splendor]

Well... I'm not sure what gear you have but dfa should be able to comfortably clear at least 90. Are you using to shatter to gather mobs? All you mentioned was firing shots and using vortex... What you want to do is run down the middle while casting frost nova followed by immolate (to trigger shatter) and then followed again by dfa (to trigger shatter a 2nd time which works because northern wind is still active). Thermal shock can also be useful with these abilities. Hitting a vortexed mob with dfa and then casting frost nova for shatter causes big damage (also useful against bosses). Skills not being at 10 shouldn't be a big deal for this build, shatter should deal plenty of damage already, but if it's not you may simply need higher damage weapons and more dmg stats on gear (don't forget +fire dmg and +frost dmg on gear). If you can afford them or get lucky drops a fire lily can help a lot with this build (but isn't neccessary) and a dfa BoM would help a lot too. As a point of reference I used this build to lvl up my character and then switched to frostbeam around trial 100. I was using a fire lily. Up through trial 90 I was getting fast clears.

Edit: I would also add that you need frostbolt equipped as one of your primary attacks in order for shatter to work.

[Raingold]

Thanks. Yes, I am using Frost Nova with Firebolt and DfA. I have Frostbolt as secondary attack. I meant, firing to gather mobs. It seems fastest to take out many groups at once. When I started doing trials, I was doing a glob of enemies at a time as I encountered them, and Vortex sometimes doesn't have much effect.

Running down the center and attracting them is much faster. I'm still practicing to find the best timing and coordinate attacks and movement. I'm not great on touch screen, and all the effects from the Talismans and Sash are new to me along with some of the Abilities. Thanks for the good details. I realize I didn't give enough information. I've looked at some videos, but they are so far ahead of me, I'm not clear how to get from wasting time running all over the map to taking out masses of enemies at once--without getting killed.

[Stusmith50]

I've always been told that arc lightning is the priority for 10, due to the attack speed bonus.

[Ozymandius]

+1 on Arc Lightening

[Splendor]

Yeah, for a frostbeam elr mage lvl 10 arc lightning is important mainly because it increases the number of shards stacked from your frostbeam, but a fire mage using double shatter doesn't really need it because those abilities aren't tied to attack speed. It doesn't hurt, but it isn't necessary.

[Ozymandius]

I agree with Splendor, the starter version of ELR Mage needs to balance both fire (immolate) and ice (blizzard or frost nova), so you can use Shatter and Thermal Shock. It is basically a double attack using Immolate followed by Blizzard/Frost Nova (or blizzard/frost nova followed by immolate). At early trials, you can clear large mobs very quickly using those double attacks, and if your AR is high enough you can trigger these attacks back to back to move through mobs pretty quickly. I feel like I get more direct damage from Blizzard, but Frost Nova is better for triggering Northern Winds.

My Fire Mage uses Fireball as primary attack plus Arc Lightening as secondary. Hitting targets with Arc Lightening softens them up for your ability attacks; you should see small red circles under the feet of enemies that have been hit by Arc Lightening to let you know where to direct your fire. In addition, a level 10 Arc Lightening boosts your attack speed by 25% and it tends to slow down enemy advances toward your hero, so it gives you a bit more time to maneuver out of a tough spot. I have not tested to see if there is a damage difference in using Arc Lightening vs. Frostbolt as the secondary attack, but I can confirm that you do not need to equip Frostbolt in order to get Shatter and Thermal Shock.

The leaderboard features more Ice Mages with Frost Beam than Fire Mages, but you should be able to do well in an ANB with a Fire Mage build.

[Splendor]

Keep in mind that northern wind lasts a few seconds so even if a spell is on cooldown and you cast it a few seconds later it can still trigger shatter.

[Raingold]

That's great. I might need to rely less on DfA as my favorite attack and focus more on using the Shatter sequence consistently. This is a huge help.

[Splendor]

Yeah, when I run a trial in this manner shatter is always #1 for damage on the trial stats, followed usually by thermal shock, then dfa, then vial of the wind spirit. Sometimes dfa is fourth and shatter can be up to 80% of the damage.

[Raingold]

Stusmith50 and Ozymandius, Thanks for the info on Arc Lightning. I see it on the LBs. I limited my choices based on being stuck in lockdown with an older tablet. I chose these Abilities based on the boosts from the Ignitor Sash to Fireball and another Fire, and what I understood about shatter at the time. I was glad a DfA build was an option for mobile in the Guide here, because it's an Ability I've used more than some of the others. Extremely inexperienced in gaming. It's good to see confirmation that this kind of build can work. I cleared T 70, and I upgraded the Glacias to Legendary. I'm glad lvl 10 isn't mandatory.

I was curious which Ability would be the best choice if I can get only one to 10. As it stands, the ones cooking won't reach 9 until tomorrow and the middle of Saturday, so the lack of BoLs is discouraging.

I reached CH 600. My AR is 1500, I think that includes the Int Mantle.

I've used Blizzard before, but seem to get better results with Immolate, and I wanted to try Frost Nova for Northern Wind and possibly a boost by something else I equipped--I haven't memorized it all. Having an odd transition from Warrior. I'll keep practicing movement and attack sequences with my other Mage.

Appreciate all of you taking time to respond.

[Raingold]

Screenshot_2021-02-04-14-22-51.png Screenshot_2021-02-04-14-29-37.png This is where my Mage is at. I was thinking of switching Celerity for Endurance, but with these huge cook times and few BoLs, I may not get to change anything. Need to run my other characters for gems to get more boosters and cover any reforging, so I probably won't be doing any speed upgrades. BTW, I read in the guide that Frostbeam is harder to control and takes longer to learn than DfA, so along with being mobile-friendly, this seemed like the best build for my situation. Happy to learn options for the future.

[Stusmith50]

You need to take the plunge and get Beaming! This is only my 2nd ANB with mage after playing warrior exclusively. I'm following Bo & Wispy's guide, and using the Discord mage channel for hints.

[kurtcabage]

if you are using DfA build
then should be DfA to lvl10
and arc lightning to lvl10

both is a must

[bojck]

A lot of good tips here : )

My 2 cents - start it simple: use frostbolt, AL, nova, immo, dfa.

When you start a trial, zap the first groups a few times to get your Integralas buff on - nearly 500 AR more. Your 1500 base AR is totally fine, with this boost you get it to 2000.

Then cast nova on some mobs, move a bit, immo (1st shatter), move some more (2 seconds or so), cast dfa (2nd shatter), then nova again and repeat. Pay attention to the northern wind timer. If it expires, then shatter won't trigger. Do some slower runs to get used to the timing and the range of shatter.

Then try moving faster and cover the map with less shatters. If you move faster, usually you gather a big pile of mobs and deal with it in the end. Then try to target a dense part of the pack with DfA, cast vortex on this spot while in the air, then nova.

Shatter will do most of the damage, followed by DfA and thermal shock. Use +fire damage on all 4 possible items to boost shatter and dfa damage. If you do trials where you are super overpowered, shatter will do 80%, as Splendor said. Normally you want to run higher trials for more xp and better drops. Then DfA and thermal shock are also important, as shatter doesn't obliterate all the mobs straight away. I'd suggest to do runs that take around 1:30-2 minutes until you get the hang of it.

When Kara spawns, zap her several times with AL to apply the AL debuff on her. Cast immo under her for the additional debuff. Cast DfA on her. Immediately after this cast nova - this triggers thermal shock. Damage against bosses in this build comes mostly from DfA and Thermal shock, and less from frostbolt and shatter.

Regarding skills to level:
- when you start an ANB, fireball level 3 is top priority - it adds the splash damage. Once you have GMC weapons, you can forget about fireball
- DfA farming has very low requirements for abilities. I'd suggest initially to aim for frostbolt 5, nova 1, immo 1, passives 5, AL 7, DfA 7. Then upgrade AL, DfA and passives. I use Glass cannon for farming - it has to be lvl 5-6 or more to be really worth it.
- later on you can upgrade immo to 10 for the wider area of effect (to apply the debuff to more mobs)

For stats: make sure to have xp on every item in your xp setup. Add some more critical rating. Movement speed on both. Don't forget the +fire : ) Craft DfA bracers at some point (epics are totally fine)

[Raingold]

Thanks, bojck. I appreciate all the strategy, attack sequencing, stats, and leveling details. I didn't know about the buffing and debuffing. Your tips on gaining mobs are a great help. I balanced CR and CD, added +Fire, and I'm practicing Trials with my other Mage to get better with the maps and mobs. My DfA timing is improving for getting out of range of insta-kill. I have DfA cooking to 10 and AL to 9. Speeded AL as much as I could. I upgraded to more Legendary gear.

I don't have enough Glory to unlock BoM this time. Considering aTalisman of Power. I've read that VoWS becomes less useful after the earlier levels. I cleared 75, and I'm low on playtime. Thanks for taking time to help.