~A Fire + Poison Wizard Guide~ by Claine2

[CIaine]

~A Fire + Poison Wizard Guide~

1- About this guide
2- My history with Fire Poison Wizards
3- About Fire Poison Wizards
4- Magician
5- Fire Poison Wizard
6- Fire Poison Mage
7- Training Areas and Funding a Fire Poison Wizard
8- Equipment and Scrolls  

[CIaine]

~About this guide~

This will be the most comprehensive Magician to Fire + Poison Wizard guide I've written. I've written several now, and partially written several more.

Firstly, my ways are not concrete. I'm willing to change them if you can provide me with evidence. However I have done excessive research, and have had much experience with Fire + Poison Wizards. I am always up for a healthy debate so feel free to post any questions or arguments.

This is a Fire -and- Poison Wizard guide. I am a strong believer that you should max both skills. I know from experience that it's much easier to level with Poison, than without it. I can also see where Pizards are coming from. I can understand how their build works but I have no experience with them. And personally, I don't think I'd enjoy them very much.

Lastly the obvious: I do not work for, nor am I affiliated with Wizet. I am just a fan. I am not a GM, I will not give you meso.

If you wish to contact me
Ingame: Claine2 on Bera,
Email + MSN: evilklogg[at]hotmail.com  

[CIaine]

~My history with Fire Poison Wizards~

When I started playing Maple Story I looked at the class section on the Maple Global Website, and decided that Magicians looked the best. I didn't look deeply into character skills. I didn't understand how the game was played. Uneducated, I chose Magician.

I have regretted it sometimes. But in the long run, I think they're my favourite class. Want to hit a monster standin' right in front of you? Sure! But you'll do less damage than a Bandit or Warrior. Want to hit a monster aaaaaaaall the way over there? Sure! But you'll do less damage than a Archer or Sin. Want to go battle a big tough monster that has lots of HP. Sure! You have the right skills to keep alive, and the accuracy to actually hit it.

They're variable. And that's what I like about them.

I asked my friends what class I should take for second job. Again, I had taken a look at the skills. I changed my mind many times before I hit level 30, but eventually went with Fire Poison Wizard - which arguably has the more variation of any upgraded Magician Class.

And I've been playing Maple Story for over a year, and most of that time was playing various Fire Wizards. I really enjoy the class, and I've put a lot of time into understanding how they work.  

[CIaine]

~About Fire Wizards~

Dot Points:

- Fire Poison Wizards have highest base attack of any -Wizard- Class. -However- Ice + Lightning Mages have highest base attack of any -Mage- Class.

- Fire Poison Wizards do not have a mob attack. Fire Poison Mages have two mob attacks, that hit unlimited enemies (and not just 6).

- Many monsters are weak to Fire. More than Ice and Lightning combined.

- Fire Poison Wizards and Mages are both very slow classes.

- Fire Poison Wizards will dominate in power until around level 50.

- Fire Poison Wizards (all Wizards and Mages in fact), have amongst the most expensive equipment in the game. However they have the worst Defence of any class. (Later in this guide will say a way to raise your Fire Poison Wizards Defense)

- Fire Poison Wizards (and all Wizards + Mages) Have very high Magic Def.

- Fire Poison Wizards learn Poison (Really xD;; ). This skill 2 hit KOs any monster given the time.

More Information:

Fire Poison Wizards dominate first, and the start of second job. They have a high base attack, and when coupled with elemental advantages carve up all other classes. This gives them a nasty reputation of being KSers. However, it doesn't take long for other classes to catch up, and once they do you'll never be on the top again.

This is where the path of a Fire Poison Wizard changes. You're no longer brute force. You're given skills like Seal and Slow to make monsters easier to kill, but the big advantage you've got is poison.

Poison's steady damage does not change no matter your level, INT equips, or monster def. At maxed level it always does 1/40th of the monster's HP forty times (once per second). (If the monster's HP is less than 2800, it will do 70 forty times) It's simple maths. Poison will kill any monster in 40 seconds. However the monsters will not just drop dead. You must deal one final blow (of even just 1 HP). Poison Mist and Explosion both hit unlimited monsters, giving you great training opportunities.  

[CIaine]

~Magician~

When starting your magician try your best to roll 4/4 stats for DEX and STR. Never put any points into them. Also, never put any points into HP or MP. If you want to raise those two stats, there are better ways to do it. Also, your INT determines how much HP and MP you get on level up (Increase Max MP also affects how much MP you get on level up. This skill is very important)

Life for a beginner -> Magician is very sweet at the moment. Much better than a year ago when I started out. There are enough quests to give you all the exp you need, and the new beginner skill that allows you to toss snail shells means you can kill monsters even faster than before.

Now put all you points on INT. Don't worry about your Luk yet. You don't need that until level 10. Remember, INT determines your HP and MP. Pump it up now and have more HP and MP forever.

Now Magican clothes are very expensive for new players. They don't actually give any extra stats until level 13, and hats until level 30. (More about beginner equips in the "Equip post"). If you can not afford all your clothes, don't worry about it. Just make sure you have a wand. When choosing your equips INT ones are the best and at the moment, cost the same as all the others.

Now, there are two skill paths you can take:

Classic Magician:

Level 8 -> 1 Energy bolt
Level 9 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 10 -> 2 MP Recovery and 1 in MP increase
Level 11 -> 3 Improving MP Increase
Level 12 -> 3 Improving MP Increase
Level 13 -> 3 Improving MP Increase - Max
Level 14 -> 3 Magic Claw
Level 15 -> 3 Magic Claw
Level 16 -> 3 Magic Claw
Level 17 -> 3 Magic Claw
Level 18 -> 3 Magic Claw
Level 19 -> 3 Magic Claw
Level 20 -> 2 Magic Claw – Max 1 MP Recovery
Level 21 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 22 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 23 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 24 -> 1 MP Recovery - Max 2 Magic Guard
Level 25 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 26 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 27 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 28 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 29 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 30 -> 3 Magic Guard - Max

This is the classic build, and a very very good one. It gives you the most MP you can get - except f you have friends to leech you, (or are very very patient) you may skip the level 1 bolt, and take MP recovery straight away. You have the best attack, and Magic Guard.

You must take MP Increase as soon as possible. It makes a huge difference. I've made a character who didn't take it until later, one who took three points of Claw first, I've been on one who didn't take it at all, and I have one that's done everything perfectly. It makes massive difference - hundreds of HP in within the first 30 levels.

No Claw Build:

Level 8 -> Energy bolt
Level 9 -> 3 Points into Improving MP Recovery
Level 10 -> 2 In MP Recovery and 1 in MP increase
Level 11 -> 3 Improving MP Increase
Level 12 -> 3 Improving MP Increase
Level 13 -> 3 Improving MP Increase - Max
Level 14 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 15 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 16 -> 3 MP Recovery
Level 17 -> 2 MP Recovery – Max 1 Magic Guard
Level 18 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 19 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 20 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 21 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 22 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 23 -> 3 Magic Guard
Level 24 -> 1 Magic Guard – Max 2 Magic Armour
Level 25 -> 3 Magic Armour
Level 26 -> 3 Magic Armour
Level 27 -> 3 Magic Armour
Level 28 -> 3 Magic Armour
Level 29 -> 3 Magic Armour
Level 30 -> 3 Magic Armour - Max

Here are some things to think about. While a Cleric gets Defencive skills, and the Ice Wizard gets skills Cold beam to freeze most enemies and lightning to deal with mobs, a Fire Wizard will get no such skills. Also, Fire Arrow is much more powerful than Claw and after level 35 or so you'll never use it again. So you might want to consider taking Magic Armour and skipping Claw.

Magic armour is a skill that most pro mages recommend that you do not put any points on. They say it’s useless because most high levelled monsters use magic attacks. Magicians get very high Magic Defence anyway, and once you hit level 70 you get Seal, which can seal most monster's magic attacks.

Maxed, it raises your magic defence by 40 points – which is the same as four panlids. Panlids sell for 250k-300k so Weapon defence must be worth something if mages and bandits are willing to pay though the nose for it.

By Maxing Magic Armour, you reduce the amount of damage you take when a monster attacks you with a physical attack. By reducing the damage you take, you also reduce the amount of MP Magic Guard takes, saving you money on pots.

With this build, you'll have no attacks except a level 1 Bolt until level 30. It takes patience, but it's really not very hard.

Classic Magicians are a very easy class, and if you just train and not PQ or go questing you can reach level 30 in a couple of days. No Claw Mages are slightly harder, but very cheap. Mine (I took my time. Did all quests, and mostly leveled up in PQ), took me a month.  

[CIaine]

~Wizard~

Skills for Wizards are quite debated. Many Wizards do not take Poison. Many who do take it skip slow. Using this build, you can max poison (and It'll be maxed at level 58, which means you can use it during your difficult 6x levels).

MP eater is a useful skill, but it does not need to be maxed to be useful. Also, if you intend to drain a monster's MP and prevent them attacking, you get seal to do the same thing after the advance, and 100 MP here and there isn't a big deal when you're taking over 1k hits. Lets do some maths:

Lets say you're level 81 and just finished Poison Mist. You can quite comfortably go train at Grims to hunt for your Kage.

Grim Phantom Watch has: 200MP.
A maxed MP Eater will draw 30% of that: 66MP.
You will have over 5000 MP.
Each Magic Attack you get hit by will deal 1800ish damage.
Magic Guard will take 80% of that: 1440 MP.

As you can see, the amount of damage you're taking is so large, the 66MP you're draining here and there is almost useless.

What makes it even worse is that Poison Mist actually only hits 1 monster, but can poison unlimited. So when you use poison mist, you're not draining from all the monsters that get poisoned. Just 1.

Also, by not maxing MP eater you can max Teleport.

Max Tele gets you past the big monsters in Ludi, saves time by letting you make huge jumps through platforms, and costs very little MP. At just 13 MP a piece, you might actually save more than if you skipped it for MP eater.

Slow is also a very useful move. I honestly did not think I would find myself using it very often. But I've got into the habit of using it monsters above or below me when I hang off a ladder, and also when I drop onto monsters below. Slow takes 40 speed off monsters, as haste gives +40 speed to the party. It's a very big difference.

Level 30 -> 1 Fire Arrow
Level 31 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 32 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 33 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 34 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 35 -> 2 Fire Arrow, 1 Teleport ((This is the way that it used to be done before the change in MP. Because the jump would happen here. Now theoretically, you could use this teleport point anytime up to here. I wouldn't leave it much later though.))
Level 36 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 37 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 38 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 39 -> 3 Fire Arrow
Level 40 -> 3 Fire Arrow - Max
Level 41 -> 3 MP Eater ((Unlocking Meditation))
Level 42 -> 3 Meditation
Level 43 -> 3 Meditation
Level 44 -> 3 Meditation
Level 45 -> 3 Meditation
Level 46 -> 3 Meditation
Level 47 -> 3 Meditation
Level 48 -> 2 Meditation - Max, 1 - Poison
Level 49 -> 3 Poison
Level 50 -> 3 Poison
Level 51 -> 3 Poison
Level 52 -> 3 Poison
Level 53 -> 3 Poison
Level 54 -> 3 Poison
Level 55 -> 3 Poison
Level 56 -> 3 Poison
Level 57 -> 3 Poison
Level 58 -> 2 Poison - Max, 1 - Teleport
Level 59 -> 3 Teleport ((Unlocking Slow))
Level 60 -> 3 Slow
Level 61 -> 3 Slow
Level 62 -> 3 Slow
Level 63 -> 3 Slow
Level 64 -> 3 Slow
Level 65 -> 3 Slow
Level 66 -> 3 Teleport
Level 67 -> 3 Teleport
Level 68 -> 3 Teleport
Level 69 -> 3 Teleport
Level 70 -> 3 Teleport - Max

Final Build:
MP Eater: 3
Meditate: 20
Teleport: 20
Slow: 18
Fire Arrow: 30
Poison: 30  

[CIaine]

~Mage~

Most jobs get a lot of really neat skills in third Job. Spearsmen get a huge array of powerful attacks, White Knights get all three Elemental Advantages, Bandits get the very powerful Meso Explosion, all Bowmen get Strafe, Crossbowmen get Ice Shot.

Fire Mages however, get more of the same.

Firstly, all your skills are very very slow. Even Booster is slow.

You'll get Explosion, which power-wise - exactly the same as your Fire Arrow. Magic Composition, is only 50% fire so it only has a base attack of 187 against a monster weak to fire.

The three skills that you will rely on in Third job are Seal, Poison Mist, and Element Amp.

Now I'll admit I'm not exactly sure how Element Amplification works. What I do know is that Hidden Street.net's description is very wrong.
1- Magic Amp is actually a Passive Move. It's on all the time. You can't turn it off.
2- Magic Amp does not give +135% Magic Attack. It gives 135% Magic attack. No Plus sign there. 135 Total, not 235. 135% is still a lot.

Even with Element Amp, your damage will still be shadowed by other classes.

Poison Mist hits one monster. One. However, it will poison any monster within the fog area. Like Poison Brace, it does 1/40th of the monsters HP 40 times. You can now 2hit KO large groups of monsters.

Seal is a very useful skill, and I think it deserves more credit than it gets.
1- It stops Monsters shooting at you. Werewolves can't use Claw. Tauromacis can't use their Lightning. A sealed monster can only harm you physically (and if you took the Magic Armour route that damage is reduced too 3nodding )
2- Seal can be used on Ropes. You can seal monsters before you even start fighting with them.
3- Seal prevents power up buffs. It also prevents you being buffed down with Curse, Darkness etc.
4- Seal prevents monsters being summoned. Lycan can no longer summon backup.

Booster needs to only be taken to level 11. After that it just gets longer but not better. However it has been mentioned to me, you could sacrifice 5 Seal to take it up to level 16. Fire Poison Mage skills are very slow, and it'd be a nightmare if it ran out when you needed it.

Level 11 Booster: HP -39, MP -34; Casting speed +2 for 110 seconds
Level 16 Booster: HP -34, MP -29; Casting speed +2 for 160 seconds

Level 20 Seal: Level 20: MP -30; 95% success rate for 20 seconds
Level 15 Seal: MP -24; 80% success rate for 17 seconds

So you're tossing up between 15% success rate and an extra three seconds on Seal, and 50 seconds on Booster.

I'll add more to this post, and add a Skill Build when I learn more about Fire Poison Mages. But at the moment this is all the information I'll give you. I won't bluff my way though it.  

[CIaine]

~Training + Funding~

Newcomer Levels:

Level 1-7: If you don't have any friends to help you level, stay in Maple Island for as long as you can. Training a new mage is much easier today than 1year, or even 4 months ago. Recent Patches have added heaps of new features, and quests and beginner skills that can make your journey nice and easy.

Magician Levels:

Level 8-13: These will be your toughest levels. During these levels you only have your level 1 bolt. All other classes can hurt more than you at the moment, and you also have to compete with higher leveled characters. Slime Tree south of Ellinia, and the The Tree that Grew are decent training places. Also try Rain-Forest East of Henesys.

This is where you must make your decision: Do you want to do the classic build, or to take the difficult No-Claw route.

Classic Build:

14-19: You'll still be using your bolt for a few levels while your Claw powers up. When you can manage the mobs, head to Pig beach. Octopus at Kerning City Construction Site are alright. Damp Forest has more spawn but you need to watch out for those tricky Jr Neckis.

20-30: As soon as you max your Claw head to Kerning subway and train at Stirge. You might need to buy a few Magician Pots or Pills if you can afford them They're all 1 hit KOs and give a massive 33 exp. That's huge for your level. They also drop a lot of pots and stirge wings so money aint bad either.

Also, Mages are very sought after in party quests. It's rather cheap to party quest, and some prizes you get are worth over 100,000 meso. However you spend a lot of time sitting around and waiting.

No Claw Build:

These levels are very hard for you. Head back to Slime tree and level there until level 20. Remember it's much quicker to level on monsters you can kill in one hit. You attack a horned mushroom ten times and it dies. You get 35 exp. You attack an Orange Mushroom once, it dies, you get 15 exp. Those ten attacks got you 3.5 exp each. By attacking the mushroom once, you got 15.

At level 21, try to get your friends to take you PQing. If you go alone, all the other Mages are bound to give you a hard time when they find out your build. Tell your party that your mage is weak before you enter the Party Quest. It is better that you get booted before you enter, than be expected to solo the slime, and have everyone die. At level 28 I was able to collect about 10 tickets in the time it took the others to collect 25. Follow around the party leader for help.

If you can't PQ at these levels, it's best that you go back to Slime Tree, or Tree that Grew.

The best thing about this build is that it's very cheap to run. Your attack uses very low MP cost, you regen a lot of MP and the monsters you fight (Slimes, Mushrooms etc) deal very low damage.

Fire Poison Wizard Levels:

Classic Build:
Try Boars, or Head to Ludi and try Ratz at level 100 and 99 of Eos Tower. There's also the bears at the top of the clock tower, but they tend to be very crowded. At worst you can head back to Stirge for a few more levels.

No Claw Build:

Now you have Fire Arrow. Chear. With this attack go fight monsters weak against fire. Axe Stumps. You will finally be able to PQ decently (Ligators are weak against Fire), so why not have a few rounds and just enjoy yourself.

At level 32 or 33 you can go to Orbis and fight Jr Grupins and Leattys. Or you can go to Kernining and try your luck at Ligators. They’re all rather easy and weak against Fire. Patch 0.27 flattened out the Sewers, making leveling here a whole lot easier. At this point your route merges back with the classic build.

~Both Builds~

35-49: Head back to Kerning and start hunting jr Wraith. If you're good at Jumpquests, I strongly recommend hunting at the top of B2, rather than in the subway. There's more spawn, and less KSers. These levels are very easy. At level 40 you've maxed out your Fire arrow.

40-49: As soon as Jr Wraith get slow, head to jr Pepe. These guys give good exp, and their fish can be fed to Moppie in a quest. Also try the Block Gollems at the bottom of Eos Tower (Floor 8 was my favourite). Unfortunately towards the end of this bracket leveling gets a bit slow. You can try the Ludi PQ,

Level 50- around 60: You should be able to 2hit KO jr Yeti often enough to hunt them effectively now. At first this will be very fast leveling. Later you can try going back to Block Gollems, and eventually Grupin. The Grupin map isn't very good because of all the stairs and angles, and they're the first monster you will train against that use a magic attack.

61-70: At this point you get a few choices, because there is no real 1 good choice:
Pang ~ 2 hits @ 220 exp. 110 exp per attack.
Pros: When you do the Maths, they have the most exp per attack. Drop some good items, Magic attack no real threat.
Cons: Long way from town, Slowish Spawn, curvy map and hard to shoot in places.

Pepe ~ 3 Hits @ 220 exp. 73.3 exp per attack
Pros: Map never crowded, close to shop, Flat Map, Drop a lot of equips, good spawn.
Cons: Low exp per attack, until you level up slow they're very fast

Block Gollems ~ 1 hit @ 102 exp. 102 exp per attack
Pros: High exp per hit. They deal very low damage, cheap monster to train on. Flat map.
Cons: Far from shops, Need Eos Scrolls to reach them, and could be stranded without Eos Scrolls (Not such a big problem now that's there's Omega and a entrance to Free Market down there), Low leveled monster so they drop no good equips. Mixed in with Dark Block gollems, which give very low exp per attack. Lots of stair climbing because the map is so narrow.

Cargoes + Cold Eyes ~ Cargoes = 3 hits @ 240 exp 80 exp per attack, Cold Eyes = 1 hit @ 85 exp, 85 exp per attack.
Pros: Cargoes drop good items, flat map with decent spawn. Close to jRog.
Cons: Far from shops (Even the 24 hour store is quite a hike), Cargoes deal quite a lot of damage. You will not be able to 3hit Cargoe until mid-late 60's.

Pirates:
Pros: If you took poison these are easy hunting. 2 hits, for a massive 1100exp a piece they're very fast leveling. Flat maps, good sniping points were they can't shoot you (They can't shoot down, so if you stand on the end of a platform where they bump down they can't shoot at you.)
Cons: Expencive training, they deal 800 touch, and over 1000 with their magic attack. Useless if you didn't take poison.

Yey, now you're a Mage.  

[CIaine]

Equips + Scrolls  

[CIaine]

:Saved:  

[CIaine]

:Saved: