The Pure Mentalist

[nokka 0]

Idea

I always like to see if a character can survive on one given aspect (a pure Voodoo Dryad, for example, is one I still wonder about, as is the Celestial Magic seraphim). I bought the add-on and decided to see which of the aspects was the weakest. Since Dragon Magic was a breeze early in the game and Elemental Magic was also quite easy, I figured Mentalism was the weakest. I turned out to be wrong.

 

As I played, I realised that Energy Blaze was a very powerful spell (honestly almost boringly so). My first test character I took to level 43 using it almost exclusively.

Energy Blaze is like a Clustering Maelstrom shaped Blazing Tempest. For those of us coming from Sacred UW, it reminds me most of a freely placeable version of the Succubus' Poison Ring, which I also found had a very enjoyable rhythmic pace.

 

Firstly, the Masterhand option should be checked in the case of a pure Mentalism build. This may be reconsidered if your build ends up as a hybrid of some sorts.

 

Skills

Mentalism Lore (100) for damage, crit., faster casting

Mentalism Focus (100) for regen and raised malus threshold

Armor Lore (75) for regen and resistance, mastery for the unlocked modifiers

Constitution (75) for life, mastery for in-combat regeneration

Ancient Magic (75) for damage, mastery for even more damage

Concentration* (1) for regen (and buff slot depending on your build)

Toughness (75) for resistence, mastery for damage mitigation

Enhanced Perception* (75) for MF

Alchemy* (1 or 75) if you find yourself used to using potions and feel you'd benefit from the trophies' effects

Combat Discipline* (1) for even more damage

 

I don't like the idea of picking a skill I don't use all of all the time, so taking Concentration gives me a buff-slot begging not to be wasted. But taking Concentration for the regen bonus alone is not bad: At high levels, it can cut your regen down to less than half. My SP build had no Concentration, for example.

 

As far as Alchemy is concerned, for those of you who understand German, Chattius has a very helpful guide, explaining the benefits Alchemy offers and which builds can profit most from it.

 

Alternative Skill picks are

Shield Lore (75), for block, defense and unlockable modifiers

Bargaining (75), if you don't already have a trader. Although Antitrust's exposition has turned me off to this skill.

Combat Reflexes (75), for evade hit/critical

Or (See also below)

Tactics Lore and a Weapon pick (sword, polearm, staff) or

Aspect Lore and/or Focus from the other two aspects

 

Attributes

Vitality (my current test character is in HC, so I chose to be more careful)

Stamina, Dexterity and Intelligence (or Strength, depending) are also viable but I find Vitality to be the most rewarding.

 

Spells

Mind Strike (Weakness, Impact, Drill)

Main attack for single opponents. Hence no area of effect mod. I keep this below 1sec.

Energy Blaze (Confusion, Zone, Afterglow)

Main attack for mobs. I chose radius over damage, as +damage modifiers are far easier to come by than +radius modifiers. I keep this below 2sec. I suggest 5sec as the final maximum.

Maelstrom (Grind, Extension, Demoralise)

Very nice when you find a place to use it. Lowering your enemies' stats is always good. I try to keep the regeneration below duration.

Combat Trance (Awareness, Experienced, Energy Flux)

The Ghost Meadow for the Dragon Mage. I chose stun resist over root resist, because where being rooted is annoying, being stunned is even more so, because you can't cast spells.

Runes of Protection (Protection, Stone Skin, Flux)

Stone Skin can be replaced by another Protection, but when you're surrounded by archers, an inherent chance to block of >22% is very helpful.

The buff Familiar can also be used, with good reason. The only 'drawback' would be giving up the idea of a 'pure Mentalist' and settling for a more efficient and (yet to be tested: significantly) more powerful 'mostly pure Mentalist'.

 

Item Modifiers

Besides everybody's favorites:

+ all skills (take as much as you can spare),

+ all Combat Arts (specifically Mentalism, same as for + all skills)

deathblow (try to get over 50%, more than 70% I find to be a waste),

critical hit (same as for deathblow)

wounds (of all sorts, pref. "Deadly ~" and "Serious Open ~"; take whatever you can get)

 

Directly Important modifiers are:

+% damage (specifically magic)

-% regen (specifically Mentalism)

regen. per hit (for those with Tactics Lore)

 

Good to have modifiers:

Chance to halve regeneration time

Reflect (close combat is most important, as a lot of arrows and spells can be dodged manually or Maelstromed out of the way)

WIDD (is risky unless you play tank-like, and the Dragon Mage's vitality is only mediocre.)

MF and +Experience go without saying.

 

Playstyle

If/when a mob is large enough, or when you're ready for your boss, open up an experience potion and a concentration potion. If you have alchemy, throw on any protection you need (Iron Ore, Talisman). Turn on Combat Trance, and (if they're magic resistant) a Maelstrom or two. Maintain these as best you can throughout the fight.

 

For Mobs:

Lead your mob from group to available group applying (if possible spamming) Energy Blaze to the middle of the densest section of the mob. Again, this tactic should be familiar to the Poison Demons among us. Early in the game, due to high regen times, you'll find yourself frequently casting on yourself.

 

For Bosses:

Cast Energy Blaze and spam Mind Strike while Energy Blaze is loading. With low enough regen, you can also spam Energy Blaze and then spam Mind Strike while the stacked Energy Blazes are working.

 

 

Variations

Dragon Magic Lore and Focus:

In order to actually be using both aspects, we'd need to stay away from the two Forms (Dragon and Berserk) for the most part, as you can only use the Combat Arts the respective Form allows. So if the Forms were our main focus in the Dragon Magic section then taking Mentalism at all would be a bit of a waste.

So, what remains are the buff Familiar and the spells Eternal Fire and Dragon Strike.

Familiar (Fire Bug, Protection from Fire, Energy Flux) with its intelligence bonus is a good buff for a mentalist to have as a caster. The Willpower and Hitpoint bonuses add to the survivability of the character, again helpful to casters.

 

Both Eternal Fire (Licking Flames, Hunger, Fury) and Dragon Strike (Heat, Heat, Scatter) are more than capable of taking care of a mob by themselves. So, if a mob is already burning, both Energy Blaze and Dragon Strike are unnecessary and also, in a way, counterproductive as killing the mob puts out the fire.

Using Dragon Strike as a complement to Energy Blaze is a bit more sensible:

 

For Mobs:

Using the same tactic as a pure Mentalist, alternate between Energy Blaze and Dragon Strike. In addition, lead your mob through the dragon flames as long as they're there.

Another option is setting them on fire with Eternal Fire and using Energy Blaze when it starts to get too slow or dangerous or if they just won't die.

 

For Bosses:

Along the same lines as a pure Mentalist, cast Dragon Strike whenever possible and suitable. Eternal Fire makes little sense here.

 

Elemental Magic Lore and Focus:

The attack spells here are all well useable:

Gust of Wind: Good against bosses. Focus like Ice Shards.

Destroyer (Explosive, Swarm, Explosive): Good against monsters close to you as otherwise they tend to run away.

Tornado (Storm Zone, Unleashed): Good against mobs. Cast and forget.

 

For Mobs:

In my experience, a combo of Gust of Wind and Destroyers works nicely in alternation with Energy Blaze. Set a Tornado loose before really laying into them.

 

For Bosses:

Your spells for bosses have a low enough regeneration time, that you almost have to choose between Mentalism and Elemental. An possible attack might be to use the GoW/Destroyer combo repeatedly and spam Mind Strike if there's time.

 

Elemental and Dragon Magic Focus:

Is another option but I won't go into it here, because I have no ideas for explaining it sensibly. The spells and buffs of both aspects benefit from their respective Lores. In this case the spells of the other aspects rely solely on Ancient Magic and/or Combat Discipline for damage bonuses.

 

Tactics Lore and/or weapon pick:

For this case, I would suggest you read Chattius' guide "the Sohei", as a build like this is already dealt with concisely with variations and edits at posts #8-11. His edit in post 11, however, leaves the build more along the lines of Weapon + Dragon Magic, which suit eachother nicely, but takes the focus away from the Mentalism aspect.

Edited January 9, 2011 by nokka

[chattius 2,672]

Nice writing. I did only one pure single tree character into niob yet and it was an arcane elf. Mentalist tree offers a nice collection of protecting spells already, adding alchemy to fill some holes is nice.

 

About your tactics variant:

Depending on how you want to play a mentalist with a weapon, tactics may not be needed. If you decide to play with a polearm you can choose the skill without taking tactics. Polearms can have x% life leech so they are a great help at bosses. Mind Strike should be modified for Area of Effect. The weapon variant is in close combat normally so Area of Effect affects a group and kills it faster. Mind strike will have a higher level because of RpH and 2-3 mindtsrikes to kill a group is quicker than a single one on each member.

 

So I would take away combat discipline in this case and go for polearms. Ancient magic can be done a lot later since life leech is a good way to break immunities.

 

mentalism lore - 1st to mastery

armour

mentalism focus -2nd

concentration- 1 point for unmodified companion

polearms -3rd (beginning with level 12 you should be able to get rings with RpH)

enhanced perception

constitution -4th

alchemy -(probably there is some +allSkills at level 35 already to have better use from Trophies and mentors with just 1 point in it)

toughness

ancient magic -5th (because of life leech in polearm not really needed before platinum, but than it has big effect)

Edited January 7, 2010 by chattius

[nokka 0]

Thanks for helping out, Chattius!

I'm always glad when someone completes the weaker parts of my work. It makes the guide more readable.

 

As far as Mind Strike is concerned, I agree with you on the Area of Effect modifier for the Close Combat based build, where Energy Blaze is not your main Combat Art. But as Mind Strike hits opponents in immediate proximity of eachother (up to 3), I went for more damage for the 'pure 'pure build''.

Also concerning Mind Strike, in the description it says 'deals more damage to armored targets'. Have you verified this to be true? So far, all I've seen along those lines is my tooltip info saying MS does 209 damage, then using it on some furies and seeing only 247 show. Have you found a formula yet?

 

Now about Alchemy: Is it true that the more you use a type of potion, the more often you find it? Otherwise, since the trophies are blue, so a bit special, maybe alchemy + EP is a mix worth taking. You seem to be the local alchemy expert here, so If you have any pointers, hints or advice, I'll be glad to hear it.

I have an alchemy char or two, but I can never find a situation 'good enough' to use the precious Iron Ore trophies. The monsters 'never do enough damage' for it to be 'worth it'. If you know what I mean.

 

Edit: So far I've seen Mind Strike hit not 3, but 4 closely packed opponents in one strike. See if we can't make it to 5, eh?

Edited January 9, 2010 by nokka

[chattius 2,672]

Yes, only times I was using iron ores was in PvP duels. Trollteeth on the other hand I am using all the time. I have them on the T-fastkey. T for trollteeth or treffen (german for to hit). If I see misses I press t automatically. Funny that I do this even if a character has no alchemy

 

Another trophy I use quite often is the one which block's rooting. RpH builds do hard in recharging their spells if they are rooted.

 

About the amount of trophies you find: I seem to find a lot of trollteeth in the famous orc cave. I think it is because champions have a better chance to drop trophies.

I planed some more tests in winter breaks, but I am in volunteer fire fighters and we spend half of the winter breaks with fighting fires and cleaning up. Some idiots seem to consider it funny to burn hay and stray in field barns outside villages, or set horses and cows free, ....

 

It really sucks if you spend x-mas fighting fires some idiots did.

[nokka 0]

Runes of Protection also does a lot especially in conjunction with Armor Lore. An Iron Ore trophy would push you over into nearly untouchable ^^.

I like to be on the safe side, though. Especially when the opponents use Attack or, heaven forbid, Hard Hit and hack my hitpoints down to the warning flash before I can say "blueberry pancakes".

The bonuses that appeal to me most as a caster are: +armor, +crit, +evade, +block root, +block projectiles

The others (att. speed/value, RpH) are of more interest to weapons based builds.

 

In essence, alchemy renders the silver mod pick for RoP moot,

as it's merely reduced to a choice between consuming more Iron Ore or more Harpy Feathers ^^

 

And shame about your Christmas, Chattius. I bet it does bite not to be able to dedicate all your vacation to your family time and traditions, and cleaning up after vandalistic boneheads instead. I hope you could still enjoy the free time you did have with your family, and that you could get into the Christmas mood.

And I hope you "slid well" into the new year, despite everything that's gotten you down.

[nokka 0]

Small update:

 

My Mentalist is now level 60, just having entered Gold after a very boring and tedious end-stretch from Silver.

 

In the end, all the bosses I've fought killed me just as slowly as I killed them. There were even some where I didn't need a single health potion (thank god for runes of protection!).

Safety-wise, he seems stable enough: I could stand inside a mob (of almost any kind) and clean up my inventory leaving only half my attention on the mob.

I swear to God, he has way too much physical resistance and way too much block...

 

I can easily say, the fight situation where I was most on edge was with the last guardian (not the other three): He hit hard even through RoP and I was always concerned with one thing:

"If he hits me 9 times in rapid succession, I'm dead."

But even with him I could just stand there and take it and didn't need to kite him...

 

In short, he's 3:1 Defense:Offense, and (given enough time) can stand his ground well enough against just about anyone --so far. I'd like to be able to keep it that way.

I guess for HC it's okay to stress safety to the point of absurdity and consider killspeed a luxury. As long as he gets the job done, he's okay in my book. ^^

 

On through Gold to Platinum!

 

(can you rush difficulties in Closed?)

[FrostElfGuard 9]

It has been some months and I'm wondering how the full Mentalism Dragonmage is doing.

 

Is he still 3:1 Defense to Offense in Gold and Platinum? Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

[nokka 0]

Thank you for the inquiry! I was starting to think no one cared! *sniff*

 

I've had to take a break (university y'know ^^), but I've just begun playing again and he's 64 still in Gold and still steady as a rock.

I've decided to level a bit in the Seraphim Only Hunting Zone to up my "damage against ...: +XX.X%"'s

 

Will work more on the build and I'll keep you up to date!

 

nokka

[nokka 0]

Well, he's 66 now, just defeated the Carnach in Gold, and has two skills he has no idea how to pick.

He needs nothing...

 

I must say, though, with only two attacks gameplay itself is a bit . . .

 

Regen is great: 1sec Mind Blast, 1sec Energy Blaze

Resi is great: 5000+ phys, 2500 relic resistance, 800 other

HP is great: 8000+ mounted, 6500+ on foot

Damage is OK: 2000+ gross for Mind Blast (1000+ net), ~1000 + 400/hit gross (~500 + 200/hit net) for Energy Blaze.

 

But he's holding up just as well as in silver, killing mobs at a moderate pace, bosses more slowly.

 

I'll get to platinum as soon as possible.

Edited January 10, 2011 by nokka

[Furian67 15]

If you have two open skills yet, consider Spell Resistance and get it mastered as soon as possible. At higher levels its the Combat Arts that tend to kill us not the melee. In silver and gold I didn't seem to notice needing this skill but once I moved into platinum I really felt the need. Good luck with him, and welcome back to the Grind.

[nokka 0]

I've always been reluctant to take Spell Resistance because I've heard it was buggy - or at least some aspect of it was.

Is that wrong or has the problem been fixed?

 

nat

 

ps: Furian, thanks for the advice. I'm trying to get to niobium asap, so I can see how and what I need to skill.

[Furian67 15]

I didn't know it was buggy. Once it's mastered I really felt the difference, I try to take this skill for any toon I plan on running through the blood forest alot.

[nokka 0]

I read around a bit. r00ster and Llama8 say that the skills (Spell Resistance and Combat Reflexes) work,

and that the benefits of skills in general aren't shown in the sigma tool-tip.

So, that's what they say, you say at mastery SR makes all the difference...

So I took it. I guess it's a little better (4 pts hard, 23 pts soft). Thanks for the advice, can't wait for mastery. ^^

 

Only one skill slot left now!

I'm between Concentration and Shield Lore

I think I'll decide once I hit Niobium. I don't know right now whether I'll need another defensive skill

or whether I'll be able to spare the slot for an aggressive one...

 

I think I'll wait for Armor Lore, Toughness, SR and Constitution to hit Mastery before making any rash decisions.

 

I'll write up / post screenshots of a summary once I hit 75.

 

nat

[Legend Aadil 4]

This is great.

For your second buff, what would you recommend?

And when starting out, how would you get the regeneration times low as soon as possible?

I'm a pure mentalist.

I've got the community patch though, where the 'Combat trance' is replaced with 'physic hammer'

 

And eternal fire has been upgraded a bit better, and the Dragon Berserk has been changed totally, what do you think on this?

 

Also, do you use both buffs at once?

What level would you have it at from rune eating?

So at level 10 - what level would you recommend the buff to be? level 5?

level 20 - level 10?

level 50 - level 25?

etc

Edited August 17, 2011 by Legend Aadil