Target audience: New to Rift or never played a Mage.
Though i expect you to know how movement, combat, camera etc works.
Core mechanics to consider:
Mage has Charge. This is a secondary resource used in a classical gain-spend pattern. Some Builds chunk away some charge, some need a certain amount for passive effects.
Using a 1h weapon and totem or a 2h staff only makes a difference in how much delay melee attacks have between pressing the ability and the animation conencting with the target aswell as auto attacks being able to proc effects like Elemental Forces. But there is no weapon damage linked to ANY of your spells and the raw power onyl comes from the combined stats of those slots.
Comprehensive game info for total beginners:
https://www.cadrift.net/gameplay/charac ... er-guides/
Sidekick and Mentoring (temporarily adjust your level for free stats)
viewtopic.php?p=134#p134
Character creation
Pick Nexus Magus or any preset.
We can change our specialization right after entering the game.
Race and Faction have no impact on a level 70 Mage. High Elves and Bahmi have a leap which can be useful in open world exploration.
-> Don't get too caught up in the creator. All its settings + a credit race swap are available in the in-game barber shop.
Rather make sure you like the animations and overall feel and don't hesitate to try some races/ genders before settling.
You 100% will change something on the appearance in the barber shop later on anyway.
Lvl 1 - A legend in the making - Or should we say an Archon in the making?
The approach presented below has the goal to be interesting, have frequent new tools and mechanics unlocked and have you learn game fundamentals with great performance results.
Speed level hacks may do a thing or two 'faster' but nothing of it has any value or reason.
Rather give something that presents the whole class with mechanics which are actually used as that class in the current game.
For Mage this means handling dynamic gcd timings and planning buff uptimes, proccs and charge economy ahead intelligently.
We will start with Pyromancer and continue with Pyro or Harbinger.
Let's get you set up:
Press N (default) to open your Soultree.
Click any of the middle icons marked in red to get a drop down menu. Select Pyromancer, Elementalist and Stormcaller.
You will have a popup warning like this. This looks dramatic but it only warns you that you disable the preset autopilot now. We do want this, so hit okay.
If you already have those 3 souls from the Nexus Magnus, this popup will occur on the step below:
Select the 3 souls like here (exact position in the 3 sets not relevant). Put your first point into Pyromancer Ignition like shown here and hit SAVE on the bottom right, then close.
-> Switch Elementalist for Necromancer if you fancy yourself a skelli boy (not a tanking pet) instead of the rocky elemental!
You are able to customize your interface by default. Hit escape- EDIT LAYOUT and play around a little if you like.
Write /exportui and look for a confirming message in the chat- to create a backup in case you delete this character for another race etc.
Lvl 1-20 - Raging Storm
As a total opposite to Cleric, Mage has a channel (Stormcaller's Raging Storm) available from the start that absolutely OBLITERATES on level 1-15 before losing power as you level up.
Press P (default) to open your spellbook and access available spells on the 3 tabs named after your 3 active souls.
You want:
Elementalist- Summon: Lesser Earth elemental
Pyromancer- Fireball, Flame Bolt
Stormcaller- Raging Storm (Forked Lightning)
First mobs should die in one Raging Storm Channel or two Fireballs
Why this combo?
Pyromancer is a long term investment. It scales extremely well with stats and like a Steam train, now maybe a little bit slow, it will turn into an unstoppable oneshot machine.
Stormcaller is the opposite, it grants extreme power early on to supplement Pyromancer's growing stage. Elementalist is just a free pet and will give some crit later.
This approach heavily rewards good awareness on what enemy state/ hp fits which damaging ability best. Great practice and active gameplay with more than fair results for the 'efforts'.
Lvl 2+ - Double down on Pyromancer and Stormcaller
Keep spending your points into Pyromancer 5/5 Ignite.
Level 2 will give you Pyromancer's Armor, a buff that now doesn't do alot but gets important later.
Unlike many mmo's, Rift Pyromancer mechanics are not dependent on crits and are fully functional on low levels- however we still want to double down on crits later, easily getting over 30% on medium levels.
You will already practice an important skill: Getting a feeling on how much your abilities do vs how much health your target has.
Is a full Fireball necessary or may just finish it off with a Flame Bolt? Do mobs even live long enough to make use of Countdown?
And don't underestimate how short the Raging Storm cooldown is!
A soul can only have as many points spent in it as your level number. Every 3 levels you get an extra point to spend somewhere else, choose Stormcaller's Storm Energy to get Icicle soon.
Level 6 example:
Your points should go into Pyromancer crit boni 3/3 Burning Fury, 3/3 Improved Bolt.
Bonus points not spend-able in Pyromancer into Stormcaller 5/5 Storm Energy and 5/5 Cyclogenesis
Raging Storm > Icycle > Fireball are your main spells.
Lvl 8 - Internalize Charge
Our first Charge spender. It consumes 50 Charge to buff the next 3 attacks by 10%. Very simple and with no other charge consumer but Icycle around, feel free to use this one a lot.
There are alot of mechanics that come and go and would require a lot of text to never be used again. We only care about getting to level 21 now.
One of those details that DO matter is in the IA section below:
---------------------------
At level 10, I leave it to you to hop into (intrepid) instant Adventures or keep questing.
-> Note that Intrepid adventures give you free soultree effects for your soul with the most points. - Pyromancer gets ALL core abilities, able to experience endgame gameplay on level 21.
For example Pyromancer gets Improved Flame Bolt, Wildfire, Pyromancer's Vengeance and Pyromancer's Fury, Innate Fire and most importantly, Spark, for free, even without having spent any points into them and being too low level to regularly unlock them.
This gives Pyromancer the craziest performance spike once you hit level 21 in an intrepid adventure, able to make full use of all of them.
Even if I dislike IA's, this is a nice method to get hands on endgame mechanics & see if you like it.
This may sound complicated but you pretty much get a fixed selection of free effects in any Instant adventure that mentors you up. Most noticeable is a procc that removes the cooldown of flame bolt.
Due to this, someone who only levels through Instant adventures may want to spec differently.
-> When you plan to do instant adventures and/ or have the Frostkeeper dlc, Skip Elementalist, spend your 4 offsoul points not into Stormcaller but Frostkeeper 4/5 Arcane Potency and buff Frost Barrier (Not Frostkeeper's Armor!!) on yourself.
Example of a dedicated IA Pyro:
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#!8f/iGiAgg/gU
With free 1 second gcd, already getting a lot of value from instant fire spells like Countdown and Flame Bolt.
---------------------------
Macro up!
Possible easy starter Macro:
#Main
#show Fireball
suppressmacrofailures
cast Fireball
cast Flame Bolt
cast Countdown
cast Thunder Shock
cast Burning Shield
It will use Fireball until you start moving
Easy Macro for boss- type targets in Instant Adventures:
#Boss 'spam'
#show Countdown
suppressmacrofailures
cast internalized Charge
//cast Cinder Burst
cast Countdown
cast Flame Bolt
cast Fireball
cast Thunder Shock
cast Burning Shield
Lvl 15+ - Full Fire
We will stop using Raging Storm and Icycle now. Their damage drops off quite significantly. Use an Icycle if you want the slow.
We do keep Stormcaller for 10 points for its crit and Ride the Wind later on though.
Lvl 21 - Pyromancer's Blessing
We can now unlock Pyromancer's Blessing- a fundamental mechanic for Pyro
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#h/iG4my8/gwd
Your fire abilities have a 20% chance to make your 6 second Cinder hard hit instant- as long as Pyromancer's Armor is buffed.
Another reason to ditch any non- fire abilities now.
Looking like this with a timer on top.
Try to use Cinder Burst only with this procc!
Cinder Burst may do so much damage that you just throw it on a new target to get the most value out of it.
You unlocked all the significant core abilities- now you will only gather quality of life boni and buffs.
Lvl 30 - Ride the Wind
Soultree example:
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#h/iG5bkyOjw/gw8
In Pyromancer you want to prioritize Pyromancer's Vengeance. Feel free to pick utilitys like Flicker and Burning Bonds.
Level 30 allows you to spend 10 points into offsouls. Stormcaller now gives you Ride the Wind: Costing 30 charge and giving you a significant run speed bonus on short cooldown.
Lvl 36-37 - Global cooldown
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#hd/iG5bkyF8A/gw8
2/2 Spark is an absolute priority. With now 1 second global cooldown, it shifts your spell priority more towards instant spells.
Flame Bolt now becomes more important, technically getting + 50% value for free. (3 in 3 seconds compared to 2 in 3 seconds)
#Rolling can become an easy button. After your Cinder Burst proceed once, you can yeet around and throw fire left & right.
You may want to get some Fireballs rolling to then have a 40% (!!) chance to procc Cinder Bursts through fire spells:
Back to the steam train metaphor; get Fireballs and buffs up to speed up Pyromancer by a lot and turn it into an absolute oneshot train throwing Cinder Bursts left and right.
#Rolling
#show Cinder Burst
suppressmacrofailures
cast Cinder Burst
cast Flame Bolt
cast Fireball
cast Countdown
cast Burning Shield
cast Inferno
Tldr: Get some Fireballs out to stack up Pyromancer's Vengeance (Cinder proccrate) and procc your first Cinder Burst. (Great use for the Heat Wave cooldown)
Then utilize your 1 second gcd to throw out all fire instant spells available.
Please do use your spells manually if you prefer that- it gives a lot more practice and control.
You may be able to run over 1000 dps consistently in Iron pine peaks, cleaving through camps of mobs with freely available questing gear.
You will notice that you are surprisingly tanky for a 'glass cannon caster'
The absolute mayhem of Cinder oneshots, Burning Bonds and Burn make you able to style on any elite you come across.
No dots that have you watch grass grow or counter-healing pets for days. Only high octane and fast paced decision making.
Lvl 48 New world who dis - New continent with alot better quest rewards is available!
Level 40- 48 is the longest stretch in the game. Instead of grinding level 48-50, you can already jump into brand new zones.
You can enter the Storm Legion continent from level 48 onward. You will get at least 10x the exp from quests and Gear as good as lvl 50 raiding Tiers. This means lvl 50 within minutes. Storm legion even offers two separate lvl 48-60 continents and journeys!
Your capital city (Meridian/ Sanctum) will have an ambassador next to the portal with talk options.
- Business in your city teleports to Tempest bay
- Brevane sends you to cape yule (Best early quests)
- Dusken sends you to Kingdom Pelladane (More core story but more running around)
The early quests are meant to be done with ungeared characters and will deck you out with most gear slots in no time.
Lvl 50 - Planar Attunement - Fundamental story mission
A little sidetrack from questing: Level 50 allows for Planar attunements.
For that, you need to get attuned in the solo- Chronicle 'Ceremony of Attunement'.
You should receive mail as you hit level 50. This solo instance unlocks Planar attunements for you.
Planar attunements are some minor unlocks with separate exp systems.
Get into DEATH first, the Unlock Vampiric Essence in the second Death panel is amazing for anything solo and scales off damage dealt. Great value from pumping hard hits back to back.
After that you may enter War for mount speed and then Water for the water rift group summon.
More info on Attunement levels (PAXP) and tricks with quests and zones:
https://www.cadrift.net/gameplay/character/levelling/
Level up to 60 - Living the dream
Pyromancer reaches its power zenith on level 60. During Storm Legion it was THE dps soul and even saw slight buffs since.
Not a lot to teach now, read your new spell's tooltips and what the soultree unlocks provide.
Observe how much damage your spells deal and avoid hitting 10% hp mobs with your best attacks.
Example of an easy macro 'once Cinder proccs are rolling'
#Rolling
#show Cinder Burst
suppressmacrofailures
cast Cinder Burst
cast Fulminate
cast Flame Bolt
cast Fireball
cast Countdown
cast Searing Bolt
cast Burning Shield
cast Inferno
Hitting level 60, you gain Fusillade. Pyromancer has a weird mechanic that your cooldowns Fusillade and Heat Wave have to be on cooldown for Fireball to apply a dot.
This dot increases the damage taken by Cinder Bursts by a lot. So be very liberal with those two cooldowns and do not sit on them without a specific plan!
Your Fire Storm spreads Count Down onto every target hit and also makes those Countdowns increase the target's damage taken by 10% (Accelerant). Definitely worth it to put up a Countdown before hitting multiple targets with Fire Storm.
Level 60 - Full circle
Reaching Level 60 not only completes Pyromancer but also all other dps souls, which pushes them more into focus.
You can decide on whether you want to continue on Pyromancer or make a switch to the other two.
-> Pyromancer will drop off very hard on level 66 and only becomes good again once you have decent level 70 gear!
Harbinger gets a buff that more than doubles its damage passively- while also being pretty tanky and flexible- hard to pass on that.
I highly recommend making the switch to Harbinger which is your best level 66-70& solo option
.. Or Warlock if you do not have Harbinger and want to try that one.
Elementalist can work as well but it is VERY boring- trust me. Necromancer is straight up bad+ boring.
Tldr:
Definitely start to transition to Harbinger on the levels 60 to 65 if you have it but at last on 66.
Pyro just has a weird legendary progression but is still doable.
I will cover both below:
60-70 on Harbinger
Normal and interesting free to play version:
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#FgA ... y/h88|Xc_g
You get a lot of pay to win here, able to make full use of Harbinger, Arbiter and Frostkeeper.
P2w is not particularly stronger- just more tanky and simple.
Pay to win, VERY EASY:
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#!8f ... /Wr2o|Xc_g
Basics:
You can pick one of 3 Charged weapons and prioritize Slashing attacks.
Those Slashing attacks want to consume charge for a lot of bonus damage which means as you attack, you slowly deplete your charge.
Main way to regain charge is to use non- Harbinger spells- ideally paired with the Harbinger armor 'eldritch Armor' which can procc you the option to use a cast time ability instantly (Kind of like Cinder Burst)
You have a fast paced and mobile melee here with a full box of utility, self heals and cooldowns while the basic attacks can mostly be handled via macros.
#Main
#show Vorpal Slash
suppressmacrofailures
cast [notactive] Charged Blade
cast Vengeful Shock
cast Vorpal Slash
cast Storm's Fury
cast Rending Slash
cast Blazing Light
cast @self Introspection
//cast Break Free
//cast Fading Light
#Debuff
#show Piercing Beam
suppressmacrofailures
cast Piercing Beam
cast Rending Slash
cast Vengeful Shock
cast @self Introspection
#Procc (no used in the p2w version)
#show Lightning Strike
suppressmacrofailures
cast [notactive] Charged Blade
//cast @self Bloom
cast Lightning Strike
cast Vile Spores
cast Vengeful Shock
cast Vorpal Slash
cast Storm's Fury
cast Rending Slash
cast Blazing Light
Free to play:
Buff Reaper's Blade and Eldritch Armor. Do NOT buff Lifegiving Veil; it costs A LOT of damage for bad and unnecessary heals.
p2w:
Buff Reaper's Blade, Eldritch Armor, Frost Barrier, Aqueous Blessing. Using Arcane Ward only as an emergency buff costs a lot of damage.
How to play: You may want to use the #Debuff macro twice to get the debuffs from Piercing Beam and Rending Slash on target.
Use your #Main macro for default attacks. You can engage with Blazing Light, Phase step+Blazing Light, Blade rush, turn 180° and Planar Retreat towards an enemy, Galvanic Strike (p2w), or Phantom Blades + Piercing Beam.
This alone may already show the ludicrous range of utility Harbinger has at all times.
When you see:
Use the procc macro as f2p. As pay to win you can use Rimes with the procc once your charge goes low.
Noteworthy cooldowns:
Empyrean Ascension: Simple cooldown that transforms you for more damage dealt and less damage taken. Also fully restores your Charge!.
Planar Shield: Costs precious charge, best against very hard hitting elites. Not a frequently used spell.
Essence of Wind: All-in-one run speed and dodge bonus. With Soultree passives and Blazing light you can reach 60% dodge before gear.
Phantom Blades: Your melee abilities now have a long range! Super powerful and completely out of place. Harbinger mains love this.
Blade Mark: Rather complicated, only useful when fighting 2 tough targets. Damage dealt on any target nearby is now copied onto the marked target.
Definitely take the minutes to read through soultree unlocks and your HArbinger spells- it is one of the most bloated souls in terms of utility!
Masteries from Level 61-65:
61 Final Breath. Every kill now heals you.
62 Rejuvenating Presence. Your Lucent Slash (aoe) now spreads the Blazing Light dot.
63 Eldritch Swiftness. Free run speed bonus.
64 Sparking Destruction. Your charge Blade Rush gets more range
65 Phantom Stream. Fully heal yourself every minute- even in combat.
Level 66 will have you get one LEGENDARY POINT per level. Those are used to socket special framed abilities in your soul tree. Each soul has 5 legendary abilities.
Number of legendaries to select is determined by your level and also-
points spent into a soul:
0-14 points = max 1 leggy
15-43 points= max 2 leggies
44-61 points= max 3 leggies
With a 61 spec you can choose 3/5 on the main soul and 1 each on the offsouls.
Or 2 in a 61 soul, 2 in a 15 point of soul and 1 in the 0 point offsoul.
Legendary Distribution for a Leveling Harbinger:
With each level giving a new legendary point to spend, when to unlock what has significant impact:
66 - L. Empyrean Ascension. Absolutely and definitely. +115% PASSIVELY for ALL your slashes. More than doubles your melee damage one level to the next. When used frequently it also completely replenishes your charge.
67 - Reaper's Blade. You can now activate Lightning Blade alongside L. Reaper's Blade but mainly get +30% damage done passively.
68 - Free to play: Bloom. Remove the // from your #procc macro and have bloom fire Five vile spores onto nearby enemies.
68 - Pay to win: Rime. Now passively proccs off attacks for healing + charge. You may now buff Frostkeeper's Armor instead of Eldritch Armor.
69 - Vengeful shock. Free bonus attack layered on top of other attacks. Great for front loaded burst damage.
70 - Free to play: Legendary Elemental Forces. No use for you now until you get a high eternal weapon.
70 - Pay to win: Galvanic Strike. Make sure you have a high charge (90-100), use it ONCE for a 30 second damage buff. (damage buff based on the charge number when cast, +25% on 100 charge)
Note that this all is a solo approach.
Here is more information and details on level 70 pve Harbinger.
viewtopic.php?t=56
Know that Harbinger is a pvp beast and sees a lot more use there than in pve.
60-70 on Pyromancer
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#h8/ ... 0/gw8|XIXg
Nothing really changes for you now. On level 65 the mastery Phantom Stream provides you with a full selfheal once a minute, usable in combat.
If you have the Frostkeeper dlc, this one is even better:
https://rift.magelo.com/en/soultree#!88 ... 0/gw8|XIXg
Again: Buff Frost Barrier on yourself. Froskeeper's Armor and Pyromancer's Armor cannot exist alongside so skip that one.
Masteries from Level 61-65:
61 Final Breath. Every kill now heals you.
62 Healing Expertise. Flat more heals and absorbs.
63 Eldritch Swiftness. Free run speed bonus.
64 Calculated Annihilation. Cast time attacks are your bread and butter.
65 Phantom Stream. Fully heal yourself every minute- even in combat.
Level 66 will have you get one LEGENDARY POINT per level. Those are used to socket special framed abilities in your soul tree. Each soul has 5 legendary abilities.
Number of legendaries to select is determined by your level and also-
points spent into a soul:
0-14 points = max 1 leggy
15-43 points= max 2 leggies
44-61 points= max 3 leggies
With a 61 spec you can choose 3/5 on the main soul and 1 each on the offsouls.
Or 2 in a 61 soul, 2 in a 15 point of soul and 1 in the 0 point offsoul.
Legendary Distribution for a Leveling Pyromancer:
With each level giving a new legendary point to spend, when to unlock what has significant impact:
66 - L. Internalized Charge. Flat 100% damage for the next 6 casts. Frees up your Charge ressource.
67 - L. Fusillade. Passive bonus for Cinder Burst and more damage from this cooldown. Takes only one stack of L Internalized Charge to buff all its Fireballs. Never sit on it unused!
68 - L. Fire Storm. Now a passive aoe for 30 seconds and Flat +30% fire damage.
69 - L. Elemental Forces. Not nearly as powerful as on a geared Pyro, still free fire damage to procc Cinder.
70 - L. Ride The wind. Good enough to get the first Cinder Burst for free but on level 70 you may start respeccing anyway.
After selecting L. Internalized Charge on level 66, you can almost one button your Pyromancer...
#Fireball
#show Heat Wave
suppressmacrofailures
cast Internalized Charge
cast Heat Wave
cast Elemental Forces
cast Fireball
cast Flame Bolt
cast Fulminate
cast Countdown
cast Searing Bolt
cast Burning Shield
cast Inferno
#Rolling
#show Cinder Burst
suppressmacrofailures
cast Internalized Charge
cast Cinder Burst
cast Fulminate
cast Elemental Forces
cast Flame Bolt
cast Fireball
cast Countdown
cast Searing Bolt
cast Burning Shield
cast Inferno
#Fire Storm - auto casts the ground effect on your target
#show Fire Storm
suppressmacrofailures
cast @gtae Fire Storm
Note that this all is a solo approach.
A detailed and Proper Pyro guide is here:
viewtopic.php?t=57
When you hit level 70, here is your next halt:
https://www.cadrift.net/gameplay/charac ... l-70-gear/
If things are too convoluted, unclear or anything feeling off please do just toss in a response here i am happily going over it.