Tharkane's Secret Mojo: Juicing up Spell Damage

[The Fellowship of DarkMatters 2]

Many Thanks to Tharkane for permission to post this great guide

 

I didn't have a good title for this thread in mind, so I just cooked up a silly one on the spot.

 

Anyway, it occurred to me to share some damage-boosting methods with those who are new to playing BMs. I'm sure none of this will be news to BM veterans, but I notice a recurring theme regarding a BM being a bi or tri-elementalist. Posh...your BM can be a Pan-Elementalist, if you focus on jacking up each damage type using your gear.

Pan-Elementalist Flexibility

 

This kind of versatility comes in pretty handy. While you only have a total of eight skills to choose for a BM, you can take advantage of all those wonderful slots in armor and weapons to pump up the damage he does using spells (and his weapons, as well) to very nice levels. A level 5 Fireball can be a whopper if the damage it does is multiplied expotentially by your gear.

 

Your skill choices are limited, but the slots in your gear are not. Five weapon slots = a lot of possibilities for a BM, especially if you stick a weapon + shield in at least 4 of them. Each weapon slot will represent a damage booster for a school of magic...and as we know, most inflict two forms of damage (with the exception of Air Magic spells, which are confused ).

 

Magic Schools and their Corresponding Damage Types

 

Fire Magic (4 damaging spells): Fire + Magic

 

Earth Magic (1 damaging spell): Physical + Fire

 

Air Magic (3 damaging spells): Physical (Whirlwind), Poison (GoW), Magic (LS)

 

Water Magic (2 damaging spells): Physical + Magic

 

The common damage denominator: Magic. The least common: Poison.

 

The Secret Mojo requires the use of body armor and finger rings to boost magic damage, since this sort of damage type is pretty common. A good example of BM set armor that boosts Magic spell damage: Blackstaff's. There are several non-set and non-unique rings which will boost magic damage by a percentile amount. The primary damage modifier we want to use is:

 

<Type> Damage: + X%

 

We want to avoid "weapon damage" bonuses and modifiers here since those do nothing for spells. However, the Secret Mojo perk is this: the aforementioned damage modifier will benefit both spells and weapon damage. Now that's good mojo.

 

Fortunately for us, Battle Mage weapons are ideally suited for this job.

Mage's Short Staff (BM only weapon): The only one-handed long handled weapon in the game, I absolutely love these things. Many feature an impressive number of slots...try four!...and feature useful mods to juice up your spells. The fact that these are a four-slotted one-handed weapon is good enough. However, these often feature Fire Spell: + X% on them, or Magic Damage: + X%. Those are the ones that you want. Pair a four-slotted Short Staff with a three-slotted shield in a weapon slot, and you have 7 ways to make your Fire Magic spells kill everything on the screen, dragons included.

 

Mage's Staff (generic weapon): This two-handed long handled weapon usually features a maximum of three slots (I've never seen one with four). I generally don't use these unless a particular one is very exceptional. The typical bonus pertains to Magic Spell and Magic Damage. The Short Staff tends to be better overall, since these are also prone to having useless mods like Regeneration Special Move.

Various Two-handed Mage's Staves (BM only): You'll recognize these by the forms they take.

 

The Poison/Physical Staff: Identical to Dagowit's Wrath in appearance, these staves often feature Poison Spell: + X%, Poison Damage: + X%, or the same mods in regards to physical damage. Three slots are most common, though four slots do occur. Generally speaking, you want four. The more slots, the better the mojo.

 

BM Swords (generic weapon): Identical in appearance to Mammon's Final Cut, these swords almost always pump up Magic Spell or Magic Damage. A typical title for one of these swords: Heavenly Sword of the Famous. They can have up to three slots. If you're a Sword Lore BM, these are a boon for you.

Assembling the Mojo

 

A Trading BM has a definite advantage here. The types of rings we want to socket into weapons and shields are the ones which feature the <Type> Damage: + X% modifier. A Trader can find these rings at Merchants very easily...and the most common one by far is the Fire ring. However, rings for each damage type can be bought at Merchants. A non-trading BM can pick them up from Merchants, though it will take greater patience and more time to do so. The ones a Trading BM can buy are always more powerful and prone to feature other handy bonuses, like life leech, a spell regeneration bonus, etc. This is where it pays to have a muling system in place, or good friends in multiplayer.

 

Weapon Slot 1: Fire Magic

 

Weapon: Mage's Short Staff with shield

 

Ideally, you want a four-slotted Short Staff. You will place a damage-boosting ring into each slot on the weapon. If the Short Staff features fire damage mods, then socket magic damage rings. If magic damage mods are present on the weapon, then socket fire damage rings. The Shield: socket fire damage rings, or the Blacksmith Art which boosts spell damage. If you have Trading, put some life leech on the shield. If you have a Forge Lore Dwarf friend, have him socket the MF art into the shield slots.

 

Weapon Slot 2: Earth Magic (also Whirlwind)

 

Weapon: Two-handed Physical Staff

or

Weapon: Short Staff with shield

 

If you're going to use a Short Staff, make sure it is one with fire damage mods on it. Socket rings which boost physical damage into the weapon. I have yet to see a Short Staff that boosts non-weapon specific physical damage. Follow this pattern with the shield as well. If a two-handed Physical Staff is used, socket fire damage rings into the slots. The goal here is to make your Meteor Storms pack a very mean punch. Turn a seven-meteor storm into a crowd killer.

Weapon Slot 3: Poison set (for gusting)

 

Weapon: Two-handed Poison Staff

 

Pretty simple and straightforward: the goal of this weapon slot is to amplify the poison damage your BM does, which will make GoW do more damage. Installing a critical hit mod here is an excellent idea.

 

Weapon Slot 4: Generic Magic set (good for ROI, IS, LS)

 

Weapon: Mage's Short Staff and shield

or

Weapon: BM Sword and shield

 

This catch-all weapon slot will serve to beef up spells which are heavy on magic damage, like Ice Shards, Ring of Ice, and Lightning Strike. Ideally, you'll want a Short Staff which features magic damage mods, or a BM sword with the same feature. Although these spells have a physical component, I recommend sticking to magic damage rings: make your magic damage go through the roof with this set. You'll also want to focus on Regeneration Spells as well, to speed up your use of IS. The faster you toss out those Ice Shards, the more casualties you cause. My highest level BM can slaughter entire crowds + their boss with one or two uses of Ice Shards. One, if enough critical hits happen.

Weapon Slot 5: Your Call!

 

Your choice of skills doesn't have to dictate what spells you rely on. Use items and equipment to turn your BM into a pan-elementalist. No sweat!