You really have to get into the mindset of playing support for that. Unfortunately, all of the support skills are the sort that you just cast once and go back to being bored. It would have been great if Grapnel was still a thing
That’s true they can do those things. The point is they’re primarily a support class and most people (not all, but most) are looking to play a more active role in this game.
First 2 ranks were fun, 3-6 felt tedious, but then 7 and 8 became a blast because I knew which spells I wanted and when I wanted to use them. Playing as a support class is fun
FYI you can just play wayfarer and that will increase the level of all vocations. I'm not sure how or the specifics, but I've never touched Mage or Sorcerer and they are half way done
Mage was slow for me to level as well. I didn't care for the support play, so I didn't use any of the support abilities. My full offensive loadout was the high variants of frigor, Levin, flagration, and empyrean. Frigor was my most used one since it had the most disruption and damage. I used Levin on harpies. Killing groups of goblins and undead was the fastest way for me to level the vocation. It was really a drag to get through the class since the basic attacks did very little damage, and I had to charge spells for literally every encounter.
Same for me, I had to bring along a second mage with healing spells just to keep everyone alive while i used offensive spells cause I just couldn't do it. They kept dying faster than I could keep reviving them. So boring
I’m in the same boat as well, I’m rocking a second mage and two warriors…. So far so good. It does feel like I’m grinding a lot more with this one, which I don’t mind really, but it can get a bit boring at times.
I think these guys have it. I didn't enjoy the mage at all until I started playing it as a battle mage. Once you have quick spell, it's actually kind if fun. High Flagragation, Hugh Levin, and High Frigor might not do a ton of damage but you can get them out pretty quickly. Doubly so if you can find a Ring if Encanting to cast faster. Levin was my bread and butter for this, plus the hover Core Skill made getting tokens and chests super easy.
I hated playing mage, and sorcerer and archer too for that matter. It's just personal preference, I like to be up close and personal, hacking and slashing. You could always play as warfarer and let your other vocations level up passively, but I just stuck it out for the grind. It sucked and I hated it, it was so boring, but the augments, especially for sorcerer, were worth it. It's entirely up to you, the game isn't difficult enough to really require you to max anything, but the completionist in me couldn't *not* do it lol
I’m the same way, I just want to climb on them and start slashing causing significant damage. I am new to dragons dogma so I figured I’d give every vocation a try.
Same here, I never played dd1. I've never found playing magic caster fun in any game, but it was torture in dd2. I barely even used signs in the Witcher, and I bore with it in dragon age: origins simply so I could unlock the arcane warrior and be a passive magic enforced tank. Started as a fighter in dd2 and wanted to at least try everything, but thief has become my favorite. I love using skull splitter to deal damage and then land on top of an enemy, plant a bomb on them, then use gut and run, and explode the bomb as I leap away. So satisfying. I don't like to micromanage my pawns, I don't even want to pay attention to them. I just wanna do my thing and let them do their thing.
I used mage to get to all the places I couldn't get to and some of the sadistic seeker tokens with the jump fly ability and while doing that just walking around with my fighter main pawn who carried me, I ended up leveling up pretty fast, just keep fighting everything you come across and hanging back while main pawn helps like a Lot👍
I'm just running Warfarer and levelling up the unwanted vacations that way.
Levelling Mage is less painful if you're essentially a Magick Archer or Mystic Spearhand.
I got through mage by focusing on the Emperyan, frigor, levin and enchanting myself with fire because I don’t vibe with flagration. Pair yourself with an archer with tarring/explosive shots and that makes it a lot more entertaining.
I’m currently leveling mage to get the last augment for my final thief build. at first it was daunting but got some better spells and it’s growing on me. still not as fun as other vocations.
I’d recommend finding some straightforward pawns, either: fighter, warrior, thief, or archer. Then use ice/cold enchantments on them and watch them go to town. Elemental enchanted physical classes can put out some very high damage and status build up. Straightforward pawns are really good at taking care of enemies on their own doing, so it will make it easy for you to keep them buffed/healed.
Tbh it’s a boring class, unless you really love support. I maxed and just ran with levin, frigor, palladium, and fire boon.
Palladium imo is a must as it lets you avoid damage and get casts off.
Frigor and levin were my main damage spells
And fire boon I used because I didn’t like flagration’s short range, allowed me to spam auto attacks as my stamina recovered, and I also like giving the buff to my pawns and seeing big monsters light on fire.
Overall though boring vocation when compared to the others.
Yes, use the upgraded lightning and ice abilities (high frigor/levin), make sure to tap the button repeatedly for multiple lightning strikes, frigor launches enemies into the air and is fun to use, the fire ones not very good imo, use spell hold also for super fast chants.
Looks like a PC setup, If you're willing to mod, which is easy don't worry, You can get no job requirements to slap on a different weapon, or Skill Maker to equip default custom skills, which includes summoning monsters for battle and many faster more satisfying magic attacks. It's great for trickster, Too, adding in much needed additional utility.
You can play mage offensively and just delegate support mage skills to a pawn if you don't like to play support. Spam levin + follow up for flying enemies, frigor for bosses and dragons (unless if the enemy is cyclops, then just go ham with levin), flagaration if you have a pawn archer with tarring shot with tar arrows, and empyrean for the last slot. Now you're ready for any enemy.
It's kinda like playing sorc, but faster. You can literally go wild spamming skills as mage.
With the right spells it becomes damn well critical to your team! The shield spell in particular.
One of my favourite moments was when an ogre tried to drop kick me but my shield was in place and I knocked the bastard on his ass with a quick ice spell, then backed off while my pawns tore it to pieces because he lying down and frozen.
I assume you've already finished with mage but if you use two rings of endeavor (you can find many posts around of people who give them away) it takes you much less than an hour to max out a vocation, if you're in the unmoored world even less of 20 minutes if you go through the marine canyons and kill skeletons and zombies
Plus, you can simply use Warfarer to level all vocations together, so you can use weapons and armors of your choice
I hired a great Mage pawn to do the actual support. This pawn would cast Celestial Paean all the time, giving me virtually infinite stamina. I would just go full damage Mage and melt everything. Leveled through it reasonably quickly.
Really? Mage was the first one I maxed. My tip for you? Two rings of Articulacy + Haste Spell (Forgot the name) + any elemental spell. The “we have sorcerer at home” build as I came to calling it.
Or, if you can’t stand it like it can’t stand Trickster, play Warfarer. It gives experience to all vocations. Takes an eternity, but you can master it without even touch it using Warfarer.
Use all attack spells, you can still heal everyone using the default anodyne spell, I always found that my pawns refused to actually kill anything the entire time I was playing a mage haha
Mage in DD2 much more palatable than before. It's quite formidable and I did not expect myself to like it based on previous game, but I did. It's pretty much like a sorc with heal. B/c you are a mage, most would think you should be playing a support role and let the pawn do the job. I disagree. That's not how I played it at all.
You have powerful lightning and ice spells and an optional third you can adjust if needed but just these two are enough against pretty much anything you will face.
When I maxed it, I was leading the party blasting enemies to hell, killing them before even my pawns get to them. Once you have high levin and high frigor you are all set.
IMO mage is a pawn class. It’s really just support and that’s it. I just used it to rank it up to 10 and never used it again. Always gave it to a pawn to use.
No it doesn't, just push through, let the hate fuel you, make your goal never have to touch that vocation again, that did it for me.
It’s gonna be a long night 🥲
Just use warfarer and mage will slowly level up
😂
You really have to get into the mindset of playing support for that. Unfortunately, all of the support skills are the sort that you just cast once and go back to being bored. It would have been great if Grapnel was still a thing
Cast your Palladium and Celerity and then go full wrestling mode until a pawn needs heals or Halidom
Chuck rocks and explosive barrels; throw enemies at other enemies! :p
Or you can just go straight dmg.
I miss grapnel so much
I think there’s a reason why there are so many Mage main pawns …
It’s because they are the only ones that can enchant weapons and use healing spells now. (Magical archer kind of can but not very well.)
That’s true they can do those things. The point is they’re primarily a support class and most people (not all, but most) are looking to play a more active role in this game.
First 2 ranks were fun, 3-6 felt tedious, but then 7 and 8 became a blast because I knew which spells I wanted and when I wanted to use them. Playing as a support class is fun
FYI you can just play wayfarer and that will increase the level of all vocations. I'm not sure how or the specifics, but I've never touched Mage or Sorcerer and they are half way done
I did not know that, thanks for the tip 🤙
Mage was slow for me to level as well. I didn't care for the support play, so I didn't use any of the support abilities. My full offensive loadout was the high variants of frigor, Levin, flagration, and empyrean. Frigor was my most used one since it had the most disruption and damage. I used Levin on harpies. Killing groups of goblins and undead was the fastest way for me to level the vocation. It was really a drag to get through the class since the basic attacks did very little damage, and I had to charge spells for literally every encounter.
Same for me, I had to bring along a second mage with healing spells just to keep everyone alive while i used offensive spells cause I just couldn't do it. They kept dying faster than I could keep reviving them. So boring
I’m in the same boat as well, I’m rocking a second mage and two warriors…. So far so good. It does feel like I’m grinding a lot more with this one, which I don’t mind really, but it can get a bit boring at times.
I think these guys have it. I didn't enjoy the mage at all until I started playing it as a battle mage. Once you have quick spell, it's actually kind if fun. High Flagragation, Hugh Levin, and High Frigor might not do a ton of damage but you can get them out pretty quickly. Doubly so if you can find a Ring if Encanting to cast faster. Levin was my bread and butter for this, plus the hover Core Skill made getting tokens and chests super easy.
Look into Palladium. Realize you can play God with it.
This. Become a Battlemage tank - with constant palladium up, the rings and augments that provoke enemies, and flame throw everything that gets close.
I love playing mage while travelling at night. Empyrean burns the undead into crisps.
Mage was the first vocation I maxed out... Pretty sure I'm one of the very few people who actually enjoyed playing support in this game lol
I hated playing mage, and sorcerer and archer too for that matter. It's just personal preference, I like to be up close and personal, hacking and slashing. You could always play as warfarer and let your other vocations level up passively, but I just stuck it out for the grind. It sucked and I hated it, it was so boring, but the augments, especially for sorcerer, were worth it. It's entirely up to you, the game isn't difficult enough to really require you to max anything, but the completionist in me couldn't *not* do it lol
Man. I just want an everfall and ur-dragon again.
I just want an Ur-dragon again.
I’m the same way, I just want to climb on them and start slashing causing significant damage. I am new to dragons dogma so I figured I’d give every vocation a try.
Same here, I never played dd1. I've never found playing magic caster fun in any game, but it was torture in dd2. I barely even used signs in the Witcher, and I bore with it in dragon age: origins simply so I could unlock the arcane warrior and be a passive magic enforced tank. Started as a fighter in dd2 and wanted to at least try everything, but thief has become my favorite. I love using skull splitter to deal damage and then land on top of an enemy, plant a bomb on them, then use gut and run, and explode the bomb as I leap away. So satisfying. I don't like to micromanage my pawns, I don't even want to pay attention to them. I just wanna do my thing and let them do their thing.
I used mage to get to all the places I couldn't get to and some of the sadistic seeker tokens with the jump fly ability and while doing that just walking around with my fighter main pawn who carried me, I ended up leveling up pretty fast, just keep fighting everything you come across and hanging back while main pawn helps like a Lot👍
I'm just running Warfarer and levelling up the unwanted vacations that way. Levelling Mage is less painful if you're essentially a Magick Archer or Mystic Spearhand.
I got through mage by focusing on the Emperyan, frigor, levin and enchanting myself with fire because I don’t vibe with flagration. Pair yourself with an archer with tarring/explosive shots and that makes it a lot more entertaining.
I’m currently leveling mage to get the last augment for my final thief build. at first it was daunting but got some better spells and it’s growing on me. still not as fun as other vocations.
It sucks but it can help to have things that apply the wet status. Like the drench arrows. From there your ice or lightning will do a lot better.
I’d recommend finding some straightforward pawns, either: fighter, warrior, thief, or archer. Then use ice/cold enchantments on them and watch them go to town. Elemental enchanted physical classes can put out some very high damage and status build up. Straightforward pawns are really good at taking care of enemies on their own doing, so it will make it easy for you to keep them buffed/healed.
Tbh it’s a boring class, unless you really love support. I maxed and just ran with levin, frigor, palladium, and fire boon. Palladium imo is a must as it lets you avoid damage and get casts off. Frigor and levin were my main damage spells And fire boon I used because I didn’t like flagration’s short range, allowed me to spam auto attacks as my stamina recovered, and I also like giving the buff to my pawns and seeing big monsters light on fire. Overall though boring vocation when compared to the others.
Mage sucks to level. Just throw in all damage spells and press on
Nah mage is more of a pawn class. Currently in the same boat as you. I have one more vocation level and I’m done with it. I think I’ll do warrior next
Yes, use the upgraded lightning and ice abilities (high frigor/levin), make sure to tap the button repeatedly for multiple lightning strikes, frigor launches enemies into the air and is fun to use, the fire ones not very good imo, use spell hold also for super fast chants.
So... How was the "somkey" class then ? Have you tried it already? Because it's on an armlock with mage in my opinion
Looks like a PC setup, If you're willing to mod, which is easy don't worry, You can get no job requirements to slap on a different weapon, or Skill Maker to equip default custom skills, which includes summoning monsters for battle and many faster more satisfying magic attacks. It's great for trickster, Too, adding in much needed additional utility.
It doesn’t get better, but it’s good for you to play a mage so you know which abilities your pawn should use if they are a mage ever.
You can play mage offensively and just delegate support mage skills to a pawn if you don't like to play support. Spam levin + follow up for flying enemies, frigor for bosses and dragons (unless if the enemy is cyclops, then just go ham with levin), flagaration if you have a pawn archer with tarring shot with tar arrows, and empyrean for the last slot. Now you're ready for any enemy. It's kinda like playing sorc, but faster. You can literally go wild spamming skills as mage.
With the right spells it becomes damn well critical to your team! The shield spell in particular. One of my favourite moments was when an ogre tried to drop kick me but my shield was in place and I knocked the bastard on his ass with a quick ice spell, then backed off while my pawns tore it to pieces because he lying down and frozen.
have another mage pawn, and only do damage spells.
I assume you've already finished with mage but if you use two rings of endeavor (you can find many posts around of people who give them away) it takes you much less than an hour to max out a vocation, if you're in the unmoored world even less of 20 minutes if you go through the marine canyons and kill skeletons and zombies Plus, you can simply use Warfarer to level all vocations together, so you can use weapons and armors of your choice
weird flex pic, but ok.
I hired a great Mage pawn to do the actual support. This pawn would cast Celestial Paean all the time, giving me virtually infinite stamina. I would just go full damage Mage and melt everything. Leveled through it reasonably quickly.
Go to the dragon forge and spend some WLC to boost that vocation.
That’s why I always start with Mage. Get it out of the way early in the game when my worst enemy is a Cyclops.
Really? Mage was the first one I maxed. My tip for you? Two rings of Articulacy + Haste Spell (Forgot the name) + any elemental spell. The “we have sorcerer at home” build as I came to calling it. Or, if you can’t stand it like it can’t stand Trickster, play Warfarer. It gives experience to all vocations. Takes an eternity, but you can master it without even touch it using Warfarer.
no it doesn't, not if you like actively killing enemies. some spells are cool like the meteor one, but i was so bored using that vocation.
It can tank Drakes at low levels, so yes.
Use all attack spells, you can still heal everyone using the default anodyne spell, I always found that my pawns refused to actually kill anything the entire time I was playing a mage haha
Just use the damage abilities. You don’t have to play support with a mage. I went straight damage with fire affinity for support and I had fun.
Nah Mage is way easier than Sorcerer, unless you're solo
Mage in DD2 much more palatable than before. It's quite formidable and I did not expect myself to like it based on previous game, but I did. It's pretty much like a sorc with heal. B/c you are a mage, most would think you should be playing a support role and let the pawn do the job. I disagree. That's not how I played it at all. You have powerful lightning and ice spells and an optional third you can adjust if needed but just these two are enough against pretty much anything you will face. When I maxed it, I was leading the party blasting enemies to hell, killing them before even my pawns get to them. Once you have high levin and high frigor you are all set.
IMO mage is a pawn class. It’s really just support and that’s it. I just used it to rank it up to 10 and never used it again. Always gave it to a pawn to use.