Best equipment/spells for a black mage?

[Kip]

I've been running a barbarian for most of my games so far and I want to switch it up with playing a black mage so I just want to tip for playing it. Like what equipment should I use and what your favorite spells to run are?
Bear in mind I'm sure theirs no perfect way to run a black mage build but I don't want to be pouring stats and money into equipment that's not suited for it

 

[WolframL]

Unless you're throwing money at the nursery constantly, you're gonna end up with more of it than you know what to do with by the time you finish the currently available content so you don't need to worry too much about spending EC to try things out. That said, if you haven't run a magic-focused character before there are a couple big things to keep in mind:

- Willpower is your god-tier Attribute. Raising it increases Spellpower (which makes your damaging spells hit harder and your healing spells restore more) so you want to focus attention on that. As a bonus it also raises the stats that effect your resistance to and avoidance of Tease/Lust damage.
- Weapons with the Catalyst tag add their accuracy and critical chance boosts to your spellcasting so if you're trying to optimize a mage, make sure they're equipped with one of the many weapons that has that property. You can certainly run an effective mage without it, but it helps a lot especially early on.
- Equipment that raises Spellpower is also good. Most weapons with the Catalyst tag do so and there are pieces of armor/accessories that also boost it, like the Wizard Ring and the Witch's Hat. Likewise Spell Penetration.
- For specific Powers, sometimes it's going to depend on the encounter. A pretty easy combo to set up is Grease>Fireball to (hopefully) knock enemies down and reduce their resistance to fire damage, then hit them with an all-targeting fire spell for maximum pain. It works great... unless the enemy strongly resists fire in the first place or it's one that gets multiple actions per turn, in which case the damage boost from Grease might wear off before your Champion gets their next turn (but it might still work to buff companion damage). You can do similar setups for other types of damage but they require a bit more work or companion skills supplementing your own. An alternative approach that works well at later levels is to focus on doing mental damage via Soul Arrow.
- As with any build, don't be afraid to spend some money buying Powers that you didn't take, or from other classes. If you need to do frost/holy damage, get yourself some White Mage skills, they'll work just as well with a Black Mage.
- Mirror Stance is a lot of fun once you manage to get it. My entire motivation for starting a Black Mage run was to make a character who I could build around that Power. Even if you aren't learning powers with it, the defensive buffing helps a lot... provided the accompanying Threat increase doesn't make you a more tempting target than whoever is playing the tank.

 

[TheShepard256]

Willpower's going to be your primary stat due to the +3 Spellpower per point. Agility is good for Accuracy, Evasion and Initiative, Cunning improves Crit Chance and Crit Damage, and Presence increases Leadership (which increases your summons' stats) and boosts some of the spells I'll list under Resolve-based damage, so they're also good stats to invest in.
Equipment:

• Weapons: You'll want Catalysts, since they add their Accuracy and Crit Chance to spell casts and often have good boosts to Spellpower and Spell Penetration.
  • The Spiraled Staff is probably the best, since among all the Catalysts, its Spellpower, Spell Penetration and Accuracy stats are equal to or better than those of any others, and its Crit Chance is second only to the Spiraled Blade. It's two-handed, though, so you can't use an offhand weapon or shield with it.
  • The Girthy Rod is second-best, with the same Spellpower but no Crit Chance, lower Spell Penetration and Accuracy, and is also two-handed. However, it is required to use Groping Tentacles, the only At-Will power that deals Resolve-based damage. It also requires at least 20 Corruption to equip.
    
  • The Eternal Delusion deals Mind damage, a type of Resolve-based damage which I'm pretty sure no enemies can resist. It also comes with some Armour and the best Evasion of any Catalyst, making it a good defensive pick. It doesn't have any Spellpower or Spell Penetration, though.
  • For offhand weapons, pick the Blank Scroll for Accuracy, the Fox Jewel for Temptation and Sexiness, the Metal Wand for Crit Chance, or the Lynx Totem for Evasion. They're all Catalysts with Spellpower and Spell Penetration, though the latter two have less Spellpower than the former two.
• Neck slot items:
  • The Amulet of Union boosts Spellpower and is required to summon Kiyoko. It and its predecessor, the Amulet of Transference, also boost Spell Penetration, which no other non-weapons do. It's definitely the best for a Black Mage, but you're going to lose it when you free Kiyoko from the Astral Plane, so have a backup lined up for when that happens.
  • The Serpent Locket is required to summon Phyria, but its only stat is Frost Resist, so if you're not planning on using Phyria, it's best to wear something else.
    
  • The Magatama increases your max Resolve and is required to use Calm Mind, a recharge spell which restores some Resolve and increases Focus and Spellpower for 3 turns.
• The only other pieces of equipment that increase Spellpower are the Witch's Hat (head slot) and Wizard Ring (ring slot).
  
• Since Black Mages are typically very squishy, the Senninbari is a good waist slot item since it can prevent one HP defeat per sleep.

For Health-based damage:

• At-Will:
  • Blight Orb can deal damage to all enemies.
  • If you're going to be attacking with your weapon as well, the White Mage ability Charge weapon gives your weapon attacks bonus Holy damage as well as inflicting Holy damage to all enemies upon assuming the stance, both of which scale with Spellpower.
• Recharge:
  • Grease knocks enemies Prone, disrupting any stance abilities and forcing them to waste a turn getting up, and also increases the Fire damage they receive. Cait's and Kiyoko's offensive spells deal Fire damage, so if you have either of them in the party you don't need fire spells of your own to take advantage of this. The knockdown effect makes this a good pick even if you're not focusing on Health-based damage.
  • Fireball targets all enemies and deals damage even when it misses. It also deals Fire damage, synergising with Grease. Arc Cannon is a version of this that deals Storm damage instead, synergising with Crackle Powder.
  • Leech deals Blight damage and restores your own Health if the target isn't an undead or construct. It can also Stagger the enemy.
  • Ray of Frost deals pretty hefty Frost damage for a spell with such a short recharge period.
  • Crackle Powder requires a ranged weapon, but it stuns enemies and makes them more vulnerable to Storm damage. Synergises well with Arc Cannon and the Metal Wand weapon.
• Encounter:
  • Kiyoko is probably the best summon you can currently get due to the number of abilities she can use. You also need the Amulet of Union equipped to summon her. However, you'll lose the Amulet and the ability to summon Kiyoko once you free her from the Astral Plane. Phyria (requires Serpent Locket equipped) deals kinetic and Cold damage, while the Fire Spirit doesn't require any equipment and deals Fire damage.
    
  • The only offensive Encounter power that benefits from Spellpower is the White Mage's Smite Evil, which is a weapon attack with boosted Accuracy, bonus Holy damage and Resolve recovery for all allies.

For Resolve-based damage:

• At-Will:
  • Groping Tentacles, which deals Tease damage (boosted by Spellpower) and requires the Girthy Rod to be equipped.
• Recharge:
  • Soul Arrow deals Mind damage, has a fast recharge speed and recovers your own Resolve. It's also one of only two Black Mage spells that deal Resolve-based damage, the other being Shadow Magic.
  • Charm Spell (boosted by Presence). I personally think it's better than Shadow Magic despite its lower base damage because it recharges one turn faster, deals Mind damage instead of Tease damage, and the Arousal it inflicts lasts one turn longer.
• Encounter:
  • Song of Splendor deals Mind damage to all enemies, and unlike most Charmer spells its damage is boosted by Spellpower (nope, the wiki (and thus I) was wrong about this; it's boosted by Presence like usual). It also boosts the party's Sexiness.
  • War Song deals less Mind damage (same base damage but boosted by Presence) and doesn't grant Sexiness boosts, but inflicts Terror as well as dispelling both Terror and Staggered from the party.

 

[Kip]

Willpower's going to be your primary stat due to the +3 Spellpower per point. Agility is good for Accuracy, Evasion and Initiative, Cunning improves Crit Chance and Crit Damage, and Presence increases Leadership (which increases your summons' stats) and boosts some of the spells I'll list under Resolve-based damage, so they're also good stats to invest in.
Equipment:

• Weapons: You'll want Catalysts, since they add their Accuracy and Crit Chance to spell casts and often have good boosts to Spellpower and Spell Penetration.
  • The Spiraled Staff is probably the best, since among all the Catalysts, its Spellpower, Spell Penetration and Accuracy stats are equal to or better than those of any others, and its Crit Chance is second only to the Spiraled Blade. It's two-handed, though, so you can't use an offhand weapon or shield with it.
  • The Girthy Rod is second-best, with the same Spellpower but no Crit Chance, lower Spell Penetration and Accuracy, and is also two-handed. However, it is required to use Groping Tentacles, the only At-Will power that deals Resolve-based damage. It also requires at least 20 Corruption to equip.
    
  • The Eternal Delusion deals Mind damage, a type of Resolve-based damage which I'm pretty sure no enemies can resist. It also comes with some Armour and the best Evasion of any Catalyst, making it a good defensive pick. It doesn't have any Spellpower or Spell Penetration, though.
  • For offhand weapons, pick the Blank Scroll for Accuracy, the Fox Jewel for Temptation and Sexiness, the Metal Wand for Crit Chance, or the Lynx Totem for Evasion. They're all Catalysts with Spellpower and Spell Penetration, though the latter two have less Spellpower than the former two.
• Neck slot items:
  • The Amulet of Union boosts Spellpower and is required to summon Kiyoko. It and its predecessor, the Amulet of Transference, also boost Spell Penetration, which no other non-weapons do. It's definitely the best for a Black Mage, but you're going to lose it when you free Kiyoko from the Astral Plane, so have a backup lined up for when that happens.
  • The Serpent Locket is required to summon Phyria, but its only stat is Frost Resist, so if you're not planning on using Phyria, it's best to wear something else.
    
  • The Magatama increases your max Resolve and is required to use Calm Mind, a recharge spell which restores some Resolve and increases Focus and Spellpower for 3 turns.
• The only other pieces of equipment that increase Spellpower are the Witch's Hat (head slot) and Wizard Ring (ring slot).
  
• Since Black Mages are typically very squishy, the Senninbari is a good waist slot item since it can prevent one HP defeat per sleep.

For Health-based damage:

• At-Will:
  • Blight Orb can deal damage to all enemies.
  • If you're going to be attacking with your weapon as well, the White Mage ability Charge weapon gives your weapon attacks bonus Holy damage as well as inflicting Holy damage to all enemies upon assuming the stance, both of which scale with Spellpower.
• Recharge:
  • Grease knocks enemies Prone, disrupting any stance abilities and forcing them to waste a turn getting up, and also increases the Fire damage they receive. Cait's and Kiyoko's offensive spells deal Fire damage, so if you have either of them in the party you don't need fire spells of your own to take advantage of this. The knockdown effect makes this a good pick even if you're not focusing on Health-based damage.
  • Fireball targets all enemies and deals damage even when it misses. It also deals Fire damage, synergising with Grease. Arc Cannon is a version of this that deals Storm damage instead, synergising with Crackle Powder.
  • Leech deals Blight damage and restores your own Health if the target isn't an undead or construct. It can also Stagger the enemy.
  • Ray of Frost deals pretty hefty Frost damage for a spell with such a short recharge period.
  • Crackle Powder requires a ranged weapon, but it stuns enemies and makes them more vulnerable to Storm damage. Synergises well with Arc Cannon and the Metal Wand weapon.
• Encounter:
  • Kiyoko is probably the best summon you can currently get due to the number of abilities she can use. You also need the Amulet of Union equipped to summon her. However, you'll lose the Amulet and the ability to summon Kiyoko once you free her from the Astral Plane. Phyria (requires Serpent Locket equipped) deals kinetic and Cold damage, while the Fire Spirit doesn't require any equipment and deals Fire damage.
    
  • The only offensive Encounter power that benefits from Spellpower is the White Mage's Smite Evil, which is a weapon attack with boosted Accuracy, bonus Holy damage and Resolve recovery for all allies.

For Resolve-based damage:

• At-Will:
  • Groping Tentacles, which deals Tease damage (boosted by Spellpower) and requires the Girthy Rod to be equipped.
• Recharge:
  • Soul Arrow deals Mind damage, has a fast recharge speed and recovers your own Resolve. It's also one of only two Black Mage spells that deal Resolve-based damage, the other being Shadow Magic.
  • Charm Spell (boosted by Presence). I personally think it's better than Shadow Magic despite its lower base damage because it recharges one turn faster, deals Mind damage instead of Tease damage, and the Arousal it inflicts lasts one turn longer.
• Encounter:
  • Song of Splendor deals Mind damage to all enemies, and unlike most Charmer spells its damage is boosted by Spellpower. It also boosts the party's Sexiness.
  • War Song deals less Mind damage (same base damage but boosted by Presence) and doesn't grant Sexiness boosts, but inflicts Terror as well as dispelling both Terror and Staggered from the party.

Thanks for all the info, I picked the sword while I was in the tower due to me not being a barbarian and now I'm kind if regretting it but oh well I've already reset 3 times to get the game exactly how I want it and I don't feel like doing it a 4th time for just one item especially since I've past day 200. I'll put all of your advice to use though so thanks!

 

[WolframL]

Day 200?! What have you been doing with all that time, trying to see just how many kids Kiyoko can pop out? xD

 

[Kip]

It takes 4 consecutive matings for Kiyoko to fart a kid out, assuming you started from day 1 and wanted to hit 32 kits for the funniest version of her release from the astral plane scene, it would take an absolute minimum of 4 x 32 days, so 128. This of course is completely implausible since there is the rest of the game to play and you don't sleep every night and sometimes you get a scene where you can't put any bread in her oven. Even so, with 128 days to fill out her boobs and butt, adding in 72 for playing the rest of the game, you have a pretty easy time hitting 200 Wolf

All of my 'up to current content end' saves are over 200. Even got 378 on my first character since i was breeding so much.

That's 50% of it and I'm not even done with it. I may or may not have over 100 kids in the nursery, though a lot of them are driders at least more than 50 aren't.

 

[Aelana]

• • Song of Splendor deals Mind damage to all enemies, and unlike most Charmer spells its damage is boosted by Spellpower. It also boosts the party's Sexiness.

Wait what? How do you know it is based on spellpower? I thought all [Tease] skills were based on presence.

 

[TheShepard256]

Wait what? How do you know it is based on spellpower? I thought all [Tease] skills were based on presence.

The wiki says so, and since the wiki is done almost entirely by someone with access to the source code, I'm going to assume it's accurate.

 

[Aelana]

Okay, that means either the wiki is wrong, song of splendor should get the [spell] tag, or it should be based on presence. Because so far I thought:

[Tease] abilities are based on presence

[Spell] abilities based on spellpower, i.e. Willpower

[Melee] abilities based on attack power, i.e. Strength

[Ranged] I believe are also based on strength? Don't quote me on that.

 

[The Observer]

export class SongOfSplendor extends Power {
    constructor(owner) {
        super(owner);
        this.name = 'Song of Splendor';
        this.short = 'SongSplendor';
        this.desc = () => `You sing a song of splendor and desire, dealing ${CombatHelper.descPresScaling(25+this.owner.presence()/2)} Mind damage to all enemies when first sung, and empowering the Sexiness of yourself and your companions for the next 5 turns.`;
        this.class = GLOBALS.CLASS_CHARMER;
        this.type = GLOBALS.POWER_ENCOUNTER;
        this.tags = [GLOBALS.POWER_TAG_PERFORMANCE, GLOBALS.POWER_TAG_TEASE, GLOBALS.POWER_TAG_STEALABLE];
        this.targeted = false;
        this.cooldown = -2;
        this.level = 4;
    }
    
    doCombat(allyParty, enemyParty, target, showOutput) {
        const damageObj = CombatHelper.damageObject(GLOBALS.ATK_MENTAL, GLOBALS.DMG_MIND, 25+this.owner.presence()/2);
        const results = enemyParty.map(e => {
            const {hit, crit} = window.hitObj = this.attemptTeaseHit(this.owner, e);
            const resultDamage = this.applyDamage(this.owner, e, CombatHelper.teaseDamage(this.owner, damageObj, crit));
            return {hit, crit, resultDamage};
        });
        allyParty.filter(c => !c.isDefeated()).forEach(c => c.createCombatEffect(CEFFECTS.SongOfSplendor, 5));
        
        if(!showOutput) return results;
        
        output(textify`
            
            [attacker.CombatName] begin[tps|s] to sing the song of an ancient elven bard, evoking the majesty and splendor of the Jade Queen of Vytania: "And lo the queen beheld her guest, and was overcome with desire, for she was clad all in silver chain and the essence of dragons..." <b>Allies' Sexiness has been improved!</b>`);
        results.forEach((result, idx) => {
            window.target = enemyParty[idx];
            window.hitObj = result;
            output(`\n[hitMiss|[target.CombatName] feel[tps|s] the gaze of the queen, and [tps|is|are] flushed by her presence!${CombatHelper.output(result.resultDamage, result.crit)}|[target.CombatName] manage[tps|s] to avoid the queen's gaze.]`);
        });
    }
}

Presence scaling.

 

[TheShepard256]

Okay, that means either the wiki is wrong, song of splendor should get the [spell] tag, or it should be based on presence.

export class SongOfSplendor extends Power {
    constructor(owner) {
        super(owner);
        this.name = 'Song of Splendor';
        this.short = 'SongSplendor';
        this.desc = () => `You sing a song of splendor and desire, dealing ${CombatHelper.descPresScaling(25+this.owner.presence()/2)} Mind damage to all enemies when first sung, and empowering the Sexiness of yourself and your companions for the next 5 turns.`;
        this.class = GLOBALS.CLASS_CHARMER;
        this.type = GLOBALS.POWER_ENCOUNTER;
        this.tags = [GLOBALS.POWER_TAG_PERFORMANCE, GLOBALS.POWER_TAG_TEASE, GLOBALS.POWER_TAG_STEALABLE];
        this.targeted = false;
        this.cooldown = -2;
        this.level = 4;
    }
   
    doCombat(allyParty, enemyParty, target, showOutput) {
        const damageObj = CombatHelper.damageObject(GLOBALS.ATK_MENTAL, GLOBALS.DMG_MIND, 25+this.owner.presence()/2);
        const results = enemyParty.map(e => {
            const {hit, crit} = window.hitObj = this.attemptTeaseHit(this.owner, e);
            const resultDamage = this.applyDamage(this.owner, e, CombatHelper.teaseDamage(this.owner, damageObj, crit));
            return {hit, crit, resultDamage};
        });
        allyParty.filter(c => !c.isDefeated()).forEach(c => c.createCombatEffect(CEFFECTS.SongOfSplendor, 5));
       
        if(!showOutput) return results;
       
        output(textify`
           
            [attacker.CombatName] begin[tps|s] to sing the song of an ancient elven bard, evoking the majesty and splendor of the Jade Queen of Vytania: "And lo the queen beheld her guest, and was overcome with desire, for she was clad all in silver chain and the essence of dragons..." <b>Allies' Sexiness has been improved!</b>`);
        results.forEach((result, idx) => {
            window.target = enemyParty[idx];
            window.hitObj = result;
            output(`\n[hitMiss|[target.CombatName] feel[tps|s] the gaze of the queen, and [tps|is|are] flushed by her presence!${CombatHelper.output(result.resultDamage, result.crit)}|[target.CombatName] manage[tps|s] to avoid the queen's gaze.]`);
        });
    }
}

Presence scaling.

The wiki's wrong, so the information I initially presented was wrong. I've corrected it now.