Mage Guide

This is brought to you by Linazz a level 70 mage on server 49, Nazgul on server 14 and Greatb a level 50 mage on facebook server 45 :)

Class Overview
Mages are the most versatile in the game. They can be pure glass cannon crit mages or they can still dish out heavy damage as well as heal and take hits. Mages are probably the most squishiest class in the game, though they excel at tanking magical  attacks because of the high MDEF bonus you get. Mages will most of the time be placed in the back in MP Dungeons and group arena's. In Solo dugeons and in the duel arena, you will put your knighs befoer you (DONT get Angels as a mage). In fights you will have the ability to heal or attack depending on your skill tree set up.

Pros:
High Magical Defense- Mages get a passive ability that increases magic defense by 20%.
Healing Abilities- Other classes may have healing abilities, but there is no healing ability as strong as the mages. Mages also get a passive skill that increases healing by 8%.
Area of Effect (AOE)- Mages also have the most potent AOE abilities in the game and this is our comfort zone for damage. Mages come in, AOE nuke and let their heavy single target damage friends do the rest!
Catacombs Survivability-Catacombs is a labrynth that pits you against foes that get tougher the deeper you go into the floors. Mages have some of the faster clearing times in here because of their strong AOE and just as strong for survival as they can also self heal and stay alive longer.

Cons:
Low Physical Defense-Mages do not gain a boost to Physical defense like the knights and archers leaving them vulnerable to physical attacks if not careful.
Low Health Points- Mages do not gain a boost to health either like the knights do. Balancing out a mage's defenses and health play a crucial role.
Weak Single Target Damage-While mages excel at the AOE damage, they lack in the single target damage. They do have a few abilities, but those can only be utilized in PVE situations as PVP you will not build enough rage to use them.
Slow Rage Buildup-Mages will gain 8 rage per attack which is fairly lower then the other classes.

Stats
The stat order Mages should focus on are in the order of MATK, MDEF, PDEF, HP

Gems
Gemming a mage properly is half the battle to winning. If you are willing to cash and buy sockets, is is recommended that you gem 1 MATK, 1 PDEF, and 1 HP into each equipment item. The MATK will help boost your damage and healing power, the PDEF will help to close the gap on mage's narurally weaker PDEF. This also applies for HP. For those of you who want to play without spending cash, the balancing task will be tricky but still possible. Make sure to prioritize your MATK gems, put 1 HP into each trinket slot and 1 PDEF into each ring slot (you do not have to how ever it does make easier to keep track of). As you get different sets of gear, you will vary in how many slots the items have (though usually its 1). They also give you 6 socketing tools and thos should be saved for your level 35 PVP set atleast.

Astrals
Astrals are really important and you can't go without them. Every player can hold up to 8 astrals depending on your level. A mage should not go for a crit  build; unless you want epic heals (heals can crit and will heal more). Crit is for archers mainly. Get the Will Destroyer instead it will benefit you greatly. The core astral that you want is MATK and both defenses. You may be wondering that if mages have such a low health why not grab health astral? Like any game that involves tanking and defenses, your health point value will always be greater when you have defenses to back it up. If you were to have significant health with low defenses, it will do you no better and you may even die faster. Having higher defenses with low health really helps you be that super hard mage tank. Instead of getting hit for 3000 or 4000 you are looking at seeing only a max of 2000 and change with the average being in the low 1000's range. After you get the MATK and both the defenses the choice really is up to you and what kinda of play style you want. You can either be a more tank mage and go with Refined Goddess Blessing, Pristine Enshieldment, Guardian Angel. Or you can be more burstly with the Sniper Edge, Ruthless, Determination. No matter your choice you should always have the MATK, MDEF, and PDEF.

Refining 
If you are not a cash player this step is not for you. But u want to prioritize your stats into Intellect, Defenses, and HP just lock the stats you already got and roll the dice on the others refining does play a key part on your gear

Gearing 
The part everyone loves! Gearing is a simple but complex part of the game. For those of you who can spend the time doing arenas and battlegrounds, you should buy the insignia PVP gear, and skip on the PVE gear. If you go toe-to-toe between the 2 gear sets, the PVP gear will win out in duels and arenas to those in full PVE gear for the fact that the PVP gear gives a -1000 Magical Defense mitigation and 30 starting rage. For your rings and trinkets it is recommended that you use your crypt tokens that are acquired from catacomb runs to purchase rings and trinkets starting at level 30 set and up.

Gear Enchanting
Always enchant your gear: it will get you mass bonus stats. This can cost you alot of gold. Use higher level lucky stones for enchanting to 12+. When you upgrade your gear into legendary (18+) you better use level 9 luck stones because the price gets to high and you really cant afford to lose 300k gold.

Mounts
not much to say on this just focus on Intellect and try to keep Stamina and Armor on equal heights. Strength wont help you that much all it will do for you is give you a lil bump in PDEF.
Strength= 4 PATK and 1 PDEF
Intellect= 4 MATK and 1 MDEF
Stamina= 20 HP
Armor= 4 PDEF and 4 MDEF

Academy
In Academy you want to prioritize MATK, MDEF, PDEF, but DO NOT ignore your Troops Stats! Troop PATK gives you an edge in WB fights and Troop Count will give your Troops more HP the calculation for it is  BASE HP x (Troop count/200) so for every 400 troops you add you double your troops health. You will want troop MDEF as well as troop PDEF: When fighting in BG or the Duel Arena it is important to keep your troops alive as long as possible because Single Target spells like Bolt (mage) and Arrow Strike (Archer) will have 2 chances out of 3 to hit your Troops instead of you. BUT DO NOT USE SUNTORIA OR RESTORATION IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS! Level Troop MDEF/PDEF and Troop Count in stead!

Talents
Talents are definatly worth it: you do not want to get stunned!!!!!!
Thus it is recommended to level your Holy seal to a bare minimum of 5.... personally this is to low my other character at level 50 has level 8 plus 3 other talents. Regarding the other talents get barrier of course! it will lower your damage received by a set percentage starting at 5%. Another talent you might want to get is Focus (bolt has the chance to decrease your rage and bolt is your primary skill so might as well get it right). The last one that is really handy is Survival it will increase your restoration by 5 seconds but it gives you a bigger boost in healing starting at a 20% boost.

Troop Enlightment
As enlightments you should obviously go for MATK enlightment. Some people might say why? It says it converts troop MATK to bonus Matk for your character. But as mages use knights and on 50+ templars who dont have any MATK. Yes it does say it takes troop Matk but in fact it just takes troop PATK or MATK depending on which troops you have. So your safe to take the MATK enlightment. So keep leveling it up if your troops are your level.