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Bolt Magician and Dual Bolt Claw Magician Guide
Part I – Introduction
As most magicians playing MapleStory know, in the 1st job advancement, they have two attacks available, which are energy bolt and magic claw. However, most guides emphasize the use of magic claw, while tossing energy bolt aside as a crutch.
I find from my experience that this is often a flawed assumption. Energy bolt can be your best friend if you allow it to grow, and if you combine it with magic claw, you open even bigger opportunities in flexibility and leveling.
This guide attempts to expose people to the virtues of using a mage with energy bolt, and several possible builds for your mage, plus some of my commentary on leveling areas and energy bolt limitations.
Part II – Energy Bolt limitations… and how to work around them
Almost every mage guide out there describes the advantages and disadvantages of bolt vs. claw. However, it is the limitations of energy bolt that usually makes people max out claw instead. In this section, I try to address the limitations and if applicable, suggest some means of dealing with the limitation.
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Limitation 1: Energy bolt does not go through walls.
This limitation is probably the biggest limitation of the bolt. The problem would not be so bad if Wizet was actually more consistent with what is considered a wall. For example, several platforms let bolts through, but some platforms which look exactly alike and are on the same map absorb bolts. What is even worse is that the extent of some walls is often not obvious (A good example of this is in the zombie lupin trees; what happens is that often I will see a zombie lupin right on the side, and I fire a bolt… but the bolt gets absorbed before it even hits the lupin.).
However, this limitation can be easily ameliorated by remembering which walls and platforms absorb bolts and working around them. Basically, scout out the place you are training and figure out the topology. Once you figure out which platforms and walls absorb bolts, you can design your attack patterns around them.
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Limitation 2: Energy bolt does not deal as much raw damage as magic claw.
This is also a very significant limitation. However, in the beginning, be aware that you have to spend almost 33% more MP just to get 10-30% more damage. In the beginning levels, this often will get you into “overkill” situations, because you have to use magic claw to finish something off. I find that energy bolt gets you into much less of these overkill situations and allows you to save on your MP usage.
In the later levels, the proportion of damage that you do with both bolt and claw compared to the amount of MP you use is pretty much equal. I have found in my experience that you tend to be more efficient in MP usage if you use energy bolt.
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Limitation 3: Magic claw looks better than bolt.
Let us not talk about aesthetics. We are talking about utility here. (….and I think bolt looks really nice.)
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Limitation 4: Energy bolt is slower than magic claw.
This is not a limitation. It only looks like it because of the animation. However, on the server, both bolt and claw are the same speed.
Part III – Dual Claw/Bolt magicians
You can actually make a build that maxes out both energy bolt and magic claw. This build has several advantages:
* The biggest advantage is that it gives you the flexibility of choosing attacks. You can have magic claw if you need to deal raw damage or if you need to hit a monster behind a wall, with energy bolt as something to knock monsters back. I often will use both on any given monster.
* You will save MP as you go through your 2x-4x levels. By having the flexibility described, you can figure out exactly how many claws and bolts you need to fire on an enemy, and not go into overkill situations. In a mob or on unknown monsters, a good compromise is to repeatedly do claw -> bolt -> claw -> bolt ad infinitum.
* Your training will be faster in the 1x levels. This also applies to pure bolt mages as well. The reasoning will be explained later.
The main disadvantage is that you will have to sacrifice two 2nd job skills to finish maxing out Magic Guard. Caveat emptor.
Part IV – Sample Builds
At the minimum, you will have energy bolt, max MP regeneration, and max MP increase maxed out. How you do it depends on how cheap you want to be.
All builds do not max out Magic Armor, for obvious reasons.
Pure Bolt Build A: For those who can supply their character with a continual supply of MP potions.
Level 8: Energy Bolt 1
Level 9: MP Regeneration 3
Level 10: MP Regeneration 2, MP Max Increase 1
Level 11: MP Max Increase 3
Level 12: MP Max Increase 3
Level 13: MP Max Increase 3
Level 14: Energy Bolt 3
Level 15: Energy Bolt 3
Level 16: Energy Bolt 3
Level 17: (save 3 points)
Level 18: (save 3 points)
Level 19: Energy Bolt 9
Level 20: Energy Bolt 1, MP Regeneration 2
Level 21: MP Regeneration 3
Level 22: MP Regeneration 3
Level 23: MP Regeneration 3
Level 24: Magic Guard 3
Level 25: Magic Guard 3
Level 26: Magic Guard 3
Level 27: Magic Guard 3
Level 28: Magic Guard 3
Level 29: Magic Guard 3
Level 30: Magic Guard 2, either Magic Claw 1 or Magic Armor 1
Pure Bolt Build B: This represents a compromise between MP potion cost and power increase.
Level 8: Energy Bolt 1
Level 9: MP Regeneration 3
Level 10: MP Regeneration 2, MP Max Increase 1
Level 11: MP Max Increase 3
Level 12: MP Max Increase 3
Level 13: MP Max Increase 3
Level 14: Energy Bolt 2, MP Regeneration 1
Level 15: Energy Bolt 2, MP Regeneration 1
Level 16: Energy Bolt 2, MP Regeneration 1
Level 17: Energy Bolt 2, MP Regeneration 1
Level 18: Energy Bolt 1, MP Regeneration 2
Level 19: (save 3 points)
Level 20: (save 3 points)
Level 21: Energy Bolt 9
Level 22: Energy Bolt 1, MP Regeneration 2
Level 23: MP Regeneration 3
Level 24: Magic Guard 3
Level 25: Magic Guard 3
Level 26: Magic Guard 3
Level 27: Magic Guard 3
Level 28: Magic Guard 3
Level 29: Magic Guard 3
Level 30: Magic Guard 2, either Magic Claw 1 or Magic Armor 1
Pure Bolt Build C: I do not recommend this build; you should be using magic claw if you want to do it this way….
Level 8: Energy Bolt 1
Level 9: MP Regeneration 3
Level 10: MP Regeneration 2, MP Max Increase 1
Level 11: MP Max Increase 3
Level 12: MP Max Increase 3
Level 13: MP Max Increase 3
Level 14: MP Regeneration 3
Level 15: MP Regeneration 3
Level 16: MP Regeneration 3
Level 17: MP Regeneration 1, Energy Bolt 2
Level 18: Energy Bolt 3
Level 19: Energy Bolt 3
Level 20: Energy Bolt 1, (save 2 points)
Level 21: (save 3 points)
Level 22: Energy Bolt 8
Level 23: Energy Bolt 2
Level 24: Magic Guard 3
Level 25: Magic Guard 3
Level 26: Magic Guard 3
Level 27: Magic Guard 3
Level 28: Magic Guard 3
Level 29: Magic Guard 3
Level 30: Magic Guard 2, either Magic Claw 1 or Magic Armor 1
Dual Bolt/Claw Build D: Take Pure Bolt Build A, and follow it to level 23. Then,
Level 24: Magic Claw 3
Level 25: Magic Claw 3
Level 26: Magic Claw 3
Level 27: Magic Claw 3
Level 28: Magic Claw 3
Level 29: Magic Claw 3
Level 30: Magic Claw 2, Magic Guard 1
Dual Bolt/Claw Build E: Take Dual Bolt/Claw build D, but instead follow Pure Bolt Build B to level 23. This is the build that I most commonly use.
Part V – “I’ve made a dual bolt/claw mage. What about Magic Guard?”
I previously discussed the fact that unlike most mages, you will have to sacrifice maxing out two 2nd job skills. For this reason, the dual bolt/claw build is most suited for clerics, with fire/poison wizards a distant 2nd choice. This section aims to discuss certain possibilities and leave you to decide what to sacrifice based on your playing style.
First thing that I want to discuss is that most people have come to the consensus that Magic Guard is a skill that must be maxed because of its potential life-saving benefits against certain enemies, such as Jr/Crimson Balrog, Yeti & Pepe, Dark Yeti & Pepe, Werewolves, Lycanthropes, Lucidas, and other high level monsters. Without this skill, you essentially limit your training areas to the point where you will no longer be able to effectively train.
On deciding what skills to sacrifice, it is better to decide which skills are absolutely required. Clerics require Heal, Invincible, and Bless at the very minimum. The reason why I added Bless in this list is because I feel clerics should play like clerics, not like a glorified mage that can heal. Ice/lightning wizards require Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Teleport, Meditation, and MP Eater. This makes Ice/lightning wizards a very unattractive choice for dual bolt/claw mage. Fire/poison wizards require Fire Arrow, Teleport, and Meditation at the very minimum. Everything else not on the list you can choose to sacrifice based on your playing style.
The next issue I would like to address is when in your 2nd job advance do you add points back into Magic Guard to finish maxing it out. I typically recommend starting this once you max out your first attack skill (or in the case of clerics, after you max out Heal). For clerics, what I like to do is to interleave levels of Magic Guard with the next skill that I am learning, at a ratio of 2 points for your next skill/1 point on Magic Guard. This ensures that you will have enough Magic Guard by the time you hit level 50 so that you can survive emergency situations in the level 50+ area. Another alternative if you do not want to level at the level 50+ area is to put points in Magic Guard around level 60 or so and make it the last thing you max out..
Part VI – Training considerations
I will not go into training extensively; most other guides cover it more extensively than I do. However, I would like to point out that because energy bolt’s damage increases linearly as you put points into it, your beginning levels will go much faster than your typical claw mage. Basically, as you put your bolt up to higher levels, you will be taking out slimes and mushrooms (and get much more experience) while your claw friends are still lagging around on snails. This also means that you will be able to use the Ant Tunnels for training once you hit around level 17 or so. A level 10 energy bolt is sufficient for training in the Ant Tunnels. Your claw friends will just now be going on mushrooms and slimes at that level…. :-P
Part VII - Update for newer versions of MapleStory
With the new versions of MapleStory, instead of having the first 10 levels of 7/10 MP consumption for energy bolt/magic claw, the MP consumption now scales more like Shining Ray.
In addition, magic claw's damage increase per level is linear rather than exponential as it was before.
This means that you no longer have to "save" points unless if you're trying to save pots. Therefore, in all my sample builds, you don't need to save points and it will still work out.
A final note: the damage when maxed is still the same as for previous versions.
Part VIII – Concluding remarks
I hope this guide fills in a void in the current literature available on mage builds. If there are any suggestions which are pertinent to this guide, please feel free to contact me.
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