| Build summary | Uses the Talisman of Beasts for similar damage to the Insanity Catalyst |
| Recommended starting class(es) | Royalty |
| Recommended Soul Level | |
|
Recommended stats (Leave at default (**) if not raised) |
|
| Vitality | 45 |
| Will/Intelligence | 40 |
| Endurance | 8 |
| Strength | 10 |
| Dexterity | 16 |
| Magic | 40 |
| Faith | 40 |
| Luck | 7 |
| Recommended equipment |
Right Hand 1: Kris Blade Equipment explained: The Kris Blade and ToB are obvious - the former increases damage by spells and the latter allows the casting of said spells as well as miracles. I often use the LSoM, because of its shield-penetration capabilities, but a Crescent Estoc, Shotel or 2-handed Sais could suit your style more. Depending on what you prefer, you can lower your Dexterity/Strength and sink some more points into other stats. I don't often switch to the second left hand slot, but I generally have a Baby's Nail there for quick plague damage or a Silver Catalyst there for a free spell/buff at the beginning of the fight. Most casters will use the Monk's Head Collar, but I find myself preferring the Silver Coronet. With an extra point into Intelligence, you will have 341 MP, which is enough for Warding immediately followed by three Firestorms. Also, though your spells will do less damage, you will take less damage from spells and from magic damage from weapons. Of course, you can always retreat to a safe distance and switch to the Monk's Head Collar if you find your spells aren't doing enough damage - you can't really switch from the Collar to the Coronet if you find you're running out of mana too quickly. Also the Collar obscures your vision, making the judging of distance necessary to land close-up spells like Firestorm, Homing Soul Arrow and Fireball a lot harder. And it looks stupid. But still, it increases your damage a lot. ;) As for rings, you'll of course be wanting the Ring of Magical Sharpness at all times in Body Form - the other slot can be used for practically anything. I find myself using the Ring of Magical Nature so I can memorise Warding/Fireball, Firestorm and HSA. Of course, it would be perfectly viable to use many other rings. As a Black Phantom, you'll be wanting the Cling Ring in the second slot, but the Ring of Magical Sharpness could be viably substituted for the Foe's Ring. As a final note on equipment, I personally have no desire to ever enter Hyper Mode, but I am sure it is an effective way of using this build. So if that's your thing, go for it. |
| Recommended spells/miracles |
Magic:
Miracles:
With a maximum of 7 Magic slots, you have a great deal of versatility in spell selection. Seeing as you also have 4 Miracle slots, your versatility is increased further - you can choose between Warding and Second Chance or Rage of God and Firestorm (though often I choose both). |
| Gameplay tips and progression |
The idea of this build is to use the Faith and Magic scaling of the Talisman of Beasts to do damage comparable to the iCat, only you get to keep all of your mana. The build is far more interesting than that, however - having all of the spells in the game at your disposal makes you incredibly versatile. I personally like to keep Warding or Second Chance on, and then rely on my high Vitality to enable me to keep close to my opponent while they have to avoid HSAs, Firestorms, Fireballs and/or many other reasonably close range spells. My secondary weapon I generally use against those irritating enemies who manage to avoid the spells like Firestorm or Ignite and who can block my soul spells with their Dark Silver Shield - it tends to shake them up a bit and can cause them to become overly aggressive or rash with the grass eating. Soul Light can often decimate opponents quickly - especially if they're slow - and is good for preventing grass-munching. The Clouds (as well as HSA, which everyone is terrified of) can give you a breather as you eat some spice/grass/cast a buff, and can be cast as the enemy is still on the floor for an easy poisoning/plaguing. As for Miracles, Second Chance is obviously one of the best spells for PvP (and indeed in the game) and often takes the place of Warding as your defensive buff. God's Wrath is excellent for sneak attacks and hitting people off of ledges, and people seem not to expect it when you open with lots of fire and soul spells. It also means you are still a deadly engine of death even in an Anti-Magic Field, especially if you can also surprise the enemy with a sudden Sais in the face. Speaking of Anti-Magic Field, you can sometimes use it to render casters useless while you still have tools to destroy them. Finally, the build can vary a bit as well, as with all builds - you could lower Intelligence to 30 and maybe even shave a few points off Vitality for a higher Magic and Faith score; alternatively, you could raise your Vit to 50 at the expense of a few points of Int, for a little extra survivability. Strength and Dexterity can also vary - you might want to use a shield, in which case the minimum Str you'll need is 11 (for a good shield). Dexterity could be lower if you never use a Shotel. Note: This build is made for PvP, but it is still deadly in PvE. It's a mage, so of course it is. XD |
'Pushed' ToB Build (Magic/Faith) (PvP)
I plussed my own build >_> lame XD
I like this ^_^ Vitality is good for a Mage, and with Magic and Faith left at 40 you've completely avoided diminishing returns. A few suggestions:
- I can't get past Endurance. Sometimes even Pure Mages need to bust out the blade, but with only 8 Endurance you might get one or two swings max. It will also leave you unable to dodge in PvP, as you can't roll very much. I would take 5 off Vitality and put it in Endruance…it's not much for Melee, but it'll let you dodge a bit better.
- Baby's Nail is good, but I can say from personal experience that Morion Blade is too. When I get down to <30% HP, I switch out my Kris for the Morion Blade, and…damn. Talk about nuking. Lol.
- You mentioned using Silver Catalyst for a free spell, but…when you switch it out, your total MP doesn't go up, but you don't GET any MP. For example, taking out the SC would take you from 100/100 MP to 100/120 MP.
- As for Rings, I always use Ring of Magical Sharpness in Body Form along with Clever Rat's Ring (devastating when stacked with the Morion Blade). But, since you seem to like having a lot of spells, you could use Ring of Magical Sharpness + Ring of Magical Nature. In Soul Form, ALWAYS use Foe's Ring + Cling Ring. The no-strings-attacked damage bonus from Foe's Ring is what helps you make up for your lower health when fighting the Host, and is an equalizer you can't afford to give up. And the Magic attack bonus given by Ring of Magical Sharpness is equal to Foe's Ring..but Foe's Ring helps melee attack as well, and doesn't lower your Magic defense.
Overall, a nice build ^_^ "Pushed" ToB is probably the highest damaging weapon in PvP.
PSN: Nick1Nintendo
Ask my anything. About Magic, that is.
Why thank you, you make some good points! I also didn't know that about the Foe's Ring/Ring of Magical Sharpness - I always thought the latter allowed greater magic damage because the one time I used the former I was doing barely any damage. Thanks.
What I meant about the Silver Catalyst is that I begin the fight with it equipped, spend my free mana, and then switch to ToB.
No problem ^_^ And yeah, I didn't know either until I tested it…been using Foe's Ring since.
Ah, I get it. But is that really worth a weapon slot? That will save you one Fresh Spice; the Morion Blade could win you a battle. Anyway, it's up to you. I just thought I'd mention it ^_^
PSN: Nick1Nintendo
Ask my anything. About Magic, that is.
One thing I forgot to mention is thanks to EWGF for broadening my horizons about the build.
So thanks. :D
personally, i dont care to use pole weapons despite their effectiveness in PvP, so i think i'd lower DEX and stick with a crescent estoc, placing those points toward END for more stamina. if u cant dodge, you are powerless as a mage. that extra dodge you may gain from those points will save you more often than your pole weapon
Check out the Official "Pure Mage" Development thread on the forums. Your build has some good points and it would be nice to have a definitive, competitive PvP build for pure spellcasters. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter in relation to this build.
Couldn't find a bunny with toast, ah well.
PSN: toasT_Bacon, toasTBacon
nice build i wonder if pushing stre up to 18 n using a blessed claymore would work lol. Better damage the LSoM
I can't believe I'm coming back here to say this: Moon weapons are still better than Crescent weapons. For that matter Estoc without a shield is pointless and suicidal for PVP.
8 END is also pretty low. I'd drop 10 INT and reduce STR and DEX to Royalty base (ie 8 STR 12 DEX) and bump END.
Good to see you back xD.
DSWiki Admin, Site Administrator,
Demon's Souls EU Strategy Guide Author, Namco Bandai Community Team Member;
That guy with the Kilij in all those Tournaments.
It IS good to see you back ^_^
And Ojimaru's right. Unless you are using a very low-requirement weapon (Kilij) and have at least 50 Magic, Moon outdamages Crescent. And even ocne Crescent outdamages Moon, Moon deals more physical damage, which is more reliable when you need to fight Faith builds.
PSN: Nick1Nintendo
Ask my anything. About Magic, that is.
Aha! For the sake of arguing, it isn't all about the AR :P You can have roughly equal AR for crescent and moon, but your damage depends on the opponent. Against a physical opponent with low magdef, assuming crescent and moon are within 20 points of each other, crescent should actually deal more damage. Because your ouput is so highly polarized, you either do a lot of damage or very little, which is why moon is typically preferred (output is buffered by the extra physical damage). It really depends on your opponent. Against a fellow mage, crescent should outdamage moon. Faith builds are the ones that will reduce your magical damage the most, which is why moon will probably work better against them. I don't recommend the shotel because it's very weak for a curved sword. The kilij is your best bet if you want a curved sword and lowers your dex req back down to 12. Up Str to 12 and you can use the Rune shield, which adds 60 magdef and does not diminish spell damage like the DSS when it is out. This can save you from a running stab from a katana or an estoc lunge (think ignite counterattack). As for using clouds, it is not highly recommended because it causes a fair amount of lag that can get you backstabbed from strange distances (ie instant death). And I'm not a fan of acid cloud >_< AMF causes WAAAY too much lag to be considered useful. You can't even hit anyone under normal circumstances.
@Ojimaru: using the estoc in 2 hands is actually quite deadly because it has incredible lunging range and interrupts incoming attacks quite easily. I am not personally a fan of the weapon because it is far too easy to use and makes for a rather boring fight if it is only used to pick at someone.
I was thinking about posting my own build here, but I found this one that is pretty similiar, so I'll just write here the differences:
Stats:
Vitality - at level 120 I had 21 Vit and instead of putting points in it, I chose Magic and Faith and that gives me better damage, however makes me die pretty quickly if someone succeeds with landing a combo on me. So the point is to know how to avoid taking any damage and killing the target ASAP rather than how to survive in a long fight (by fight, I don't mean situations when one guy is rolling around, I mean ppl are actually hitting each other). Still, nobody's perfect and you can't just avoid doing any mistakes at all, so Second Chance is a must. No matter how enormous amounts of damage you opponent can deal with one hit, he'll still have to hit you at least twice.
Will/Inteligence - for me, 303 MP is enough (not sure what Stat-Will gives it), as I use SC instead of Warding. 300 MP is 3x Firestorm, so you can use it quickly as soon as a BP breaks in, and if you are a BP, you can surprise your enemy and kill him quickly if he's near the point where you show up. If you can't see any enemies around after breaking in, cast SC, regenerate your MP with some spices and you're ready to hunt.
Endurance - as mentioned by someone before, should be at least a little higher, even for running and rolling.
I think mine Dexterity was lower, too.
Magic and Faith, as I said before, as high as possible.
RH: Talisman of Beasts and any low requirements weapon you like (I use crescent falcion +5, since it's easy to get and I'm too weak to pose any threat with a melee weapon anyway, it's pretty much just for PvE)
LH: Kris Knife +5 (upgrading is necessary to maximise magic dmg) and Dark Silver Shield (pretty much because of ridiculous mag def, don't actually remember using it in PvP fight)
I always wear the monk's head collar.
Spells:
Firestorm - (2L: luck and lag are important when using this :P Luck, because it makes pillars of fire at pretty much random places around you) Most people will keep distance to avoid this one and then try to attack quickly before you cast this. But still, if you take them by surprise, use it. If your enemy is in a corner/small corridor/somewhere he can fall from, this is very useful. In most cases, it's your best shot. Especially against not-so-pro players. :P
Homing Soul Arrow - extremely powerful, So far, I haven't seen a single person who survived after being hit with all five arrows. Major disadvantage is that it can be very easily blocked with dark silver shield. Still, it is your second best spell. And don't forget that if you cast this far from opponent and then come in range, it won't hit.
Soul Light - basic PvE spell. Even though it takes half of opponent's hp if isn't blocked, I don't find it very useful in PvP. Easy to dodge, blocked with Dark Silver Shield. Long range is worth mentioning, and ability to 1-shot-kill most environment enemies.
Firespray - I take it to 5-2 mainly because of the flies there. However, I think it's worth trying in PvP against people using Dark Silver Shield, since it deals fire, not magic damage. Didn't seem to be very useful before, but I'll give it a chance in future.
Miracles:
Second Chance (a MUST)
Others are not for use in PvP, just PvE:
Evacuation (you can spare some time with it), Rage of God (better change from ToB to ToG before using it).
It's not perfect, since some aggressive high-hp melee-focused players may dodge Firestorm and other spells, or interrupt Firestorm and chase you if you run (hard to survive, especially if you ran out of MP). However, after some practice, you can learn to buy some time with homing soul arrow "guarding" you and eat some spices to refill your MP bar, however try not to stay with less MP than it is required for 2x Homing Soul Arrow.
You can see full potential of this build when being a Phantom or a host with one or two phantoms, since enemies won't focus on just you and you'll be able to take them out quickly while they try to attack your allies.
I killed a lot of Blue Dragons as a Phantom with this build, in some games dealing over 500 damage with every single soul light (in most games it was about 300).
Boss fights usually take seconds if only you have an ally who would attract his attention. Usually thanks to Firestorm/Homing Soul Arrow.
will this 40 faith 40 magic greatly outdamage Icat or will damage be close or a bit more than icat.
I believe at 40/40 the damage is equal. Not exact; the ICat wins out by a very, very small degree, too small to make a difference.
In the SL 120 range, you can summarize Tob vs. ICat as: both have the same spellpower, but one has more MP and the other more stat points to play with.
PSN: Nick1Nintendo
Ask my anything. About Magic, that is.
I seem to always get anwsers from you :)
Everybody gets answer from me at some point ^_^ That's me. Mr. Nick1Encyclopedia.
PSN: Nick1Nintendo
Ask my anything. About Magic, that is.
[wrong build :$]