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UO in Review -- 3 Nov 2006
Wilki Becomes Dev, No Longer Community Coordinator
UO Week in Review--29 September 2006
Server Maintenance
UO Week (or thereabouts) in Review--16 Sept 2006


Advanced Mage PvP Tutorial
Dedicated to the UO Power Gamers website
(and all the people that think pvp is 90% connection)
Author: Tapion (ICQ: 9023357)

Note: This template will not teach you how to GM skills, use potions or raise anything but your PvP skill. This includes every trick and tip I use this holds NOTHING back no secrets kept this is all of it (this is really gonna piss off alot of Vet PvPers). I am referring to real Vets, playing for 3 years doesn't make you a Vet trust me, the population of vets now are probably some where along the lines of 1/3000.

The reason I am writing this tutorial is because it seems I will be moving do a different location pretty soon and it is way out in the middle of no where so even a dial up connection wouldnt be good enough to play any online game since its miles away from the phone office and the static is bad. Besides it's time for me to grow up and start my life I should not be sitting at home playing UO anyway.

Character Template:
All mages should have the following skills:

· Magery
· Meditation
· Magicresist
· Eval Int
· Wrestling
· Inscribe

I know that some of you think that healing/anatomy is the way to go and if thats what you like more power to you but without inscribe your dueling performance is degraded. The 7th skill is really up to you, I personally use poisoning but it really isnt something I need.

Now for stats there are hundreds of arguments to the perfect stats and all of them are very valid and im not going to sit here and tell you a specific stat setting. Just make sure that after you buff you have at least 100 int or your mana regain will be too slow to be a effective fighter. Also its a good idea to have at least 100 strength after buff as well. 100str 100int and 25dex is a great stat setting but do not expect to use it and survive unless you are a very experienced player because you will be hurt if you cant take the damage. On the other hand its obviously the best template against a warrior so feel free to use it when you become experienced enough.

Settings:
Your settings are a very very very important part of PvP just remember my quote "Milliseconds matter". You want to make macros for every spell you use so that you can cast them quickly when you need them. Offensive spells that you commonly use (3rd circle and up EXAMPLE: poison, para, explosion, ebolt, flamestrike, mindblast) should be placed on the F keys (I will explain in a moment).
NOTE: Set your keyboard settings Repeat Delay: Short / Repeat Rate: Fast (If your system gives you that annoying ding noise when your holding down a combination of keys just remove the sound for it in the sound control panel.

NOTE: all macros should be easily accessed with your left hand (assuming your right hand is used for the mouse) MEANING NO CTRL \ MACROS I recommend not passing TGB.

You really want your last target, target self, and clear queue(if you use that uoa feature) on your mouse. I personally recommend the Microsoft Intellieye Explorer but any mouse that has 3 extra buttons (yes that includes the wheel) will work. On my Explorer mouse I can set my buttons to push keys...my setting is F10 F11 and F12 for the 3 extra buttons which comes out to be Clear Queue, Target Self, and Last Target. If you dont want to spend money on a mouse UOA will allow you to set last target and target self on your mouse wheel (EXAMPLE: Mouse wheel up/Mouse wheel down). If you have a 2 button mouse with no wheel i strongly recommend you upgrade because your way past the times....but if you insist on keeping it make sure you put your target keys on your F keys.

WARNING: DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT SET YOUR TARGET KEYS ON YOUR MOUSE IF YOUR NOT GOING TO USE QUEUE TARGET IN UOASSIST. (You cant hold down the target button when its on a mouse because it wont repeat the key like it would if it was on the keyboard....and yes those "milliseconds matter")

WARNING: Holding down keys doesnt work on every keyboard. The keyboard I use personally is the Microsoft Internet Keyboard it cost me 15 dollars.

Now let me explain Queue Target for uoassist, this feature will remember the target button you pushed and push it automatically as soon as uoassist realizes that the target is up (thats faster than you see it 99% of the time). Is it faster than holding down the target key? NO but holding down a mouse button wont repeat itself so its very useful when your using mouse buttons. Its pretty useful when your pushing keyboard keys too (not quite as much as a key on the mouse though) since it keeps your fingers free from holding down the target button but just remember to set a clear queue button that you can push fast otherwise you may heal your opponent or cast a offensive spell on yourself by accident. So it does have it's ups and downs but I do recommend using it in all conditions (if you can get use to it that is...PRACTICE).

Alright now back to the F keys the reason your offensive spells should be on the F keys is because if you set them to CTRL ALT or SHIFT combinations you wont be able to hit last target while your holding down the spell and yes "milliseconds matter". You will understand when I go into attacking details.

Spells: (quick review of my favorite spells)
Mindblast - This spells damage depends on the difference between the HIGHEST and LOWEST stats - max damage of 40
Explosion - The main combo spell (Play it off tactics) - 47
Ebolt - Damage spell - 49 (thats right people you heard me FOURTY NINE not 42)
Flamestrike - Good damage spell can be used to combo because of its long delay for damage - Max Damage Unknown but its estimated to be 60
Meteor Swarm - WTF Meteor Swarm? who gives a shit about meteor swarm? I do because it takes so damn long for the damage to take effect it will allow you to poison the person while the damage is still being applied making it good for a combo spell (warning the damage variance is big and you can not use last target on the target after you use the spell on him)

Attacking:
First let me say that im not going to put alot of anti dex monkey tactics to let me get that out of the way right now. Arch protection / Reactive Armor against big slow weapons, Arch protection / Protection against fast weapons. You should always have GM leather on against warriors. No matter how good you become a fencer with a spear will always have a chance to beat you....don't like it? Tell it to OSI

Note: Protection with GM inscribe will stop like 8/10 disturbs so USE IT against mages and use it against fast swinging weapons.

Note: If your using balanced stats to avoid MB damage the first spell your going to want to cast is probably bless at the least cunning

Alright lets start this off now, when your fighting a mage with stats of 95-100 95-100 25-35 you want to raise their highest stat (intelligence) and lower their lowest stat (dex) you then want to weaken him just so that you can start off the attack with him at lower health. Let me tell you right now that you do not need to use explosion against these characters you can if you want but its really not needed. After he is debuffed the mindblasts will do 40 damage or very very close to it but remember that the damage is delayed on a mindblast so often he can get a greater heal through the mindblast this is where double casting comes into play (thats right people double casting and no its not a bannable offense because OSI made the limit so you cant cast spells immediately but with double casting the first spell is delayed so the second spell can go fast hense by passing the delay that OSI set to prevent people from casting several spells in a row like the old fireball days).

In order to double cast you need to cast the first spell and wait about 2.2 seconds after the target cursor comes up then target cast the next spell immediately then target again. Its a good idea to hold down the 2nd spell after you push the macro for the first spell (thats why I stressed earlier that its important to have offensive spells on the F keys so you will be able to push the target for the first spell after waiting 2.2 seconds while holding down the second spell). Lets experiment now to see if you have it right...find a dog cat or anything that will survive 2 mindblasts and set him on last target.

Double mindblast attack: Push your macro for mindblast and hold it down wait 2.2 seconds after the cursor comes up then hit your target macro (still holding down the mindblast macro) now as soon as the second mindblast spell casts hold down the target key (if your using Queue Target just push the button and it will automatically target when the cursor comes up). The first mindblast will hit and then the second one will hit before the first mindblasts sound finishes playing (you like that don't you? Well read on because that ain't all I have to teach you) If it didnt work...try holding the spell for more than 2.2 seconds...hell try 8 seconds just so you can test that your doing everything else right.

Mindblast, Poison, Double Mindblast Combo

>Heres how its done....Push your Mindblast macro and then immeditately hold down your poison macro.....2.2 seconds after the cursor comes up target him then it will cast poison and let go of the poison macro key and hold down the last target (you dont need to hold it down if your using Queue Target on UOA) you will then poison him so fast that even if the poor guy preped greater heal he will have no time to heal the damage (assuming the poison applied). ....if he casted agility while you casted that first mindblast now is the time to cast clumsy (specially since it will disturb his cure) now go for the double mindblast quick (shown above)! If the guy is really fast he might be able to still cure and greater heal after you poison him but thats some pretty small odds and if the poison disturbed his first cure he is DEAD there is no way he will live its impossible if you did it correctly.

NOTE: A combo I like to use against the not so talented players is Cunning, Explosion, Weaken, Poison, Clumsy, Double mindblast. Gets them all the time.

Lets go back for a second and assume (because I do not want to leave anything out) he casted cure very fast and you think that his greater heal will be casted before you kill him. If you unequip your spell book you can cancel the spell your casting immediately and cast another one which you can use to disturb his greater heal and poison him again.

Warning: The target cursor might still be there even though you cancelled your spell just hit ESC or target it.

Now heres where the problems come, when your fighting someone with stats designed to avoid mindblast damage (Im going to teach you how to bring them to their knees). The first thing they are going to do in a battle is probably bless at the least they will cast cunning so they can gain mana at a decent rate. The first spell you want to cast is feeblemind to screw their mana regain rate...hell do it again if they blessed or casted cunning so their int is as low as possible making their mana regain slow if they cast cunning again feeble them again rememeber that your gaining mana fast and spending less mana, they are gaining mana slow and spending more mana. This concept applies with strength as well as long as you keep their int low keep their strength low too there isnt anything they can do about it other than to waste their mana. Remember that even if they cast strength they are still damaged from the weaken. Your primary spells of attack are going to be explosion, ebolt, poison and occasionally FS/Meteor Swarm if you think the situation is right.

NOTE: dont forget double casting you can use it to send 2 ebolts (just like mindblast but with the ebolt macro) or send FS and then poison immediately or Meteor Swarm and poison immediately after it.

Now lets talk about some combos against these guys......these guys are FUN to fight I love fighting people with balanced stats its much more of a variance than just casting poison/mindblast.

A simple combo is Explosion, double ebolt you hold the target 2.2 seconds after the explosion then cast ebolt and hold it 2.2 seconds then target and then cast ebolt and target that will do a explosion it will hit then immediately a ebolt hits and another hits after it. If he is still alive after that dont be afriad to poison and send another ebolt. If the guy prepares a greater heal dont bother with it just cast poison or use my "play it off tactics" (Inspired by Ba Ba Booey a very very talented player). Lets go into the play it off tactics now...

Play it off tactics... Whats that do? Play it off tactics are used to trick your opponent and should be done with 2 explosions. Here is a example Player A (you) is fighting Player T (for trash talker hehehe) playing A has protection on and casted explosion but player T casted weaken to disturb it. Player T thinks he disturbed it but he really didnt so player A waits a lil bit and targets the explosion and immediately player A casts another explosion a second after Player T sees the words he will think your recasting the spell he just disturbed and then after it the first explosion hits you still have your explosion casted (you want to target the 2nd explosion as soon as you see the first explosion hit) . If the player is really dumb or thinks he lagged he might think that the 2nd explosion you just casted was the one you hit him with you then go into a ebolt...or even double ebolt if you want cause he wont know what the hell is going on if you tricked him good enough.

NOTE: This tactic is alot better than it seems and it will trick vets all the time its very hard to catch until its too late as long as you play it off good. Currently I only know 3 people that use this tactic so its not common at the moment. I am sure if everyone starts using it, it will be alot easier to catch.

NOTE: this can also work if he casted greater heal as soon as I casted explosion and I just sit there and wait (up to a max of like 30 seconds though) he will usually cancel the heal thinking I cancelled the explosion.

Defense:
"The best defense is a good offense" yeah well I bet the guy that said that wasnt thinking about a game where you are limited by your Mana. If you just nearly killed your opponent or some how have low mana do not attempt to strike on him not even poison because sometimes he wont stop to cure.

When an opponent is casting a spell like explosion and you have plenty of mana to spare dont be afriad to cast poison on him and use that poison to debuff him a bit and maybe even follow it with a complete attack. Like I stated in the Attack section of this tutorial if your fighting a dude with balanced stats keep him debuffed it drives them crazy. Disturbing the second spell is usually the best move if your opponent is say...casting explosion poison or explosion ebolt or even explosion mindblast dont be afriad to poison him to disturb the second spell you can quickly heal the explosion damage making him waste that important mana.

There is really no super advice I can give you to be a great defender just keep your protection up and remember that minor heal can not be disturbed (well I have seen the cursor not come up once or twice but I think thats just a bug). It is a good idea to keep up a spell like weaken or clumsy and cast it if you see your opponent getting ready for a double (if he holds a spell) or if you notice the guy trying to do the "play it off tactic". Preping a greater heal is not always the best way to go remember your objective is not just to stay alive its to stay alive and making him waste his mana only a fool would. The mindblast spell has delayed damage so just because you dont think you have time to cast a greater heal through it doesnt mean it cant be done.

Tips: (and reviews)
· Lightning is a fast spell and can do up to 24 damage dont be afriad to try to finish a player with it if you dont have 14 mana.
· Do not expect easy kills even with the combos I gave you they are just basic guide lines to give you a idea of how to attack you will usually have to bend them to your opponents reactions.
· Double casting flamestrike/poison or MeteorSwarm/Poison or Mindblast/Poison is a good way to get free damage however Flamestrike/Poison has a tiny tiny gap that can be healed through.
· Queue target is a nice UOA feature that can be helpful as long as you learn to use it properly. Specially when using mouse buttons to target.
· Play honorable its a known fact that dishonorable players never make it to the top and I have yet to lose to a trash talker (in a duel...so that doesnt include the homos running around with a million potions clothes of invis and reflect and with a vanq spear)
· If you lose to a player do not make a excuse for your defeat keep trying to battle the opponent pay attention to everything and "absorb" his tactics and improve to them.
· Fear tactics do work if your opponent is afriad of you he will lose, confidence is required to play at full skill. (Inspired by vegeta hehehe)
· To Remove Reactive Armor equip a heavy piece of armor and wait about a minute (Special Thanks to Haze for being a argumentive Bas....I mean nice guy)
· Some players spend their time trying to disturb every spell a opponent casts...thats a waste of mana dont bother.
· Remember that your mouse wheel can be used to target with UOA (Special thanks to Tory AKA White E from chesa for that info)
· Protection against fast weapons and mages. RA against slow and heavy damage weapons.
· When you run across a server line with a spell casted all you have to do is unequip your spell book and you can cast again.
· Duels are not suppose to have potions in them!
· Warriors are really homos that want to play a character based on luck =)
· While I have seen people on 28k hold their own....to be up to the game speed you really should have at least 100ms ping.
· Sometimes you can use Minor Heal too much for your own good.
· Teleporting and hiding is good for chickens.
· While mana drain and mana vampire are pretty cheap spells but they are often resisted alot dont be afriad to use it. Its very "iffy" so to speak in duels usually your opponent wont call on you for using it but sometimes they will and basically its considered unhonorable to use that spell in a duel so make sure you stop if he says so.
· Minor Heal cant be disturbed.
· Make sure you tab out before your meditate otherwise your opponent will walk by you and make you cancel your meditation.
· Paralyze doesnt work if your casting a spell while it hits you.

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