Are you a newbie in Spellmasons and looking to learn more about mage types? Look no further! This gaming guide provides a list of all the mage types in Build 28 to help you understand the game better. Written by a fellow novice, this guide is perfect for those just starting out in the world of Spellmasons.
Intro and Disclaimer
Levelling and choosing a Mage Type
Level up order:
1) Pick mage type (if at ML3)
2) Pick spell
3) Pick stats (at end of current DL/start of next DL)
If you pick the Gambler mage type, you’ll see the benefit of the extra spell choice immediately. If you pick the Spellmason mage type, you won’t see the benefit of an extra stat point until you complete your current DL.
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Mage type is a permanent choice for a given run. Any spells gained from a mage type are in addition to your choice of spells from levelling.
ToDo:
-What happens if you already have the spell granted by a mage type? Does it upgrade or do you get nothing?
-If you have the Mana Capture Soul perk, is that in addition to the Necromancer’s Health Capture Soul perk, or is your existing spell transformed into the new version?
-How fast are ML’s gained compared to DL’s? Is it about 1 ML per 1 DL, is it a different scaling, is up to RNG? Does it depend on enemy types?
-How does multiplayer levelling work? Is EXP shared?
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When selecting a mage type, you may notice a blue map icon at the bottom of the mage type card. This shows you the highest dungeon level you’ve reached with that mage type, and – if you’ve won – how many wins you’ve had with that mage type.
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Since you’ll be reaching ML3 when you make the choice, you’ll be making your choice based on the following factors:
1) What are the 6 spells I’ve unlocked so far, and what do they synergize with?
2) Which 3 stat points did I spend so far?
3) Personal preference. At this early stage of the game, you can make any choice work.
Mage Types
Spellmason
Gain 4 stats per level up instead of 3, representing +25% more stats.
Timemason
Gain double the mana, but lose 1% mana per second.
Necromancer
Gain the Capture Soul spell, which costs 40 health instead of 60 mana. Summon spells are cheaper.
Archer
Gain the Arrow spell. Arrow spells costs do not increase when cast multiple times in the same turn.
Far Gazer
Double cast range, halve stamina.
Cleric
Gain the Heal spell. Blessings cost half mana.
Witch
Gain the Contaminate spell. Curses cost less to cast.
Gambler
Choose from 4 spells instead of 3 when gaining spells.
Spellmason
For reference, here is the value of stats:
Stat – Base Value – Stat Point Bonus
HP – 60 – 20
Mana – 60 – 5
Stamina – 200 – 20
Cast Range – 200 – 20
Good Looks – 0 – 0
How you spend your stats is up to preference, but keep in mind the following:
-If you consistently spend at least 1 point on Range but never on Stamina, you might have been better off with Far Gazer.
-If you consistently spend at least 1 point on Health, you might get more mileage out of the Cleric.
-If you consistently spend at least 1 point on Mana AND have great reflexes, you *might* want to give Timemason a try.
Timemason
-You come out ahead as long as you take less than 50 seconds to use all you’re mana.
-Once you are out of mana, take all the time you need to plan your next turn.
-Since stat points spent on Mana have about double the value, consider spending at least 1-2 stat points per ML on mana.
Necromancer
Summon spells cost less mana. (ToDo: How much less? 25%? A discount golem costs 42.)
=Capture Soul Spell=
-If the target has 31 health or less, kill it and turn it into a spell card that can be used to summon that unit.
-This still kills the target if you’ve already captured that enemy type before.
-Cannot give more than one spell card per specific enemy. Enemy variants (bosses, altered types, etc) count as distinct enemy types that are captured and summoned separately. Enemies with different status effects (such as being Split by the Cloning spell) do not count as distinct types.
-If none of the targets of the spell are under 31 health, the cost of this spell is automatically refunded.
An incredibly fun mage type with lots of potential, but can be tricky to use in practice.
-You need both HP and Mana to cast, so you need a wider stat spread.
-The icons that predict whether you’ll be attacked next turn don’t take the deaths of your minions into account. You’ll have to predict turns yourself.
-Try not to rely on your summons for everything. They are too slow and simple minded to effectively solve some situations.
-Since your goal is to not only survive each level, but also capture each enemy type, it’s easy to die of either being too greedy or not greedy enough.
ToDo: Can you farm EXP by abusing enemy summoners? Probably not, but it’s worth investigating the details of EXP.
Archer
=Arrow (10 mana?)=
10 Damage.
List of arrow spells:
Arrow, Upgraded Arrow, etc
Shadow Arrow
Target Arrow
Note that although arrow spells themselves have infinite range, they can’t carry spell effects with them (with the obvious exception of Target Arrow).
This is a very powerful mage type early on, but is probably the weakest mage type in the long run. It can still work, but like all mage types, planning and synergy is needed.
Far Gazer
Like all mage types that alter stats, the order in which you get your stats don’t matter. You get double the range, whether you spent those stat points before or after getting this mage type.
To break even with the Spell Mason in terms of range, you need to spend at least 1 point per level on Range. To come out ahead – and make up for the lack of stamina – you need to spend 1-2 points per level on range. That only leaves 1-2 points to spend on mana and health, which is obviously quite limiting.
You have to be very efficient in how mana is spent to make this mage type work.
This mage type is probably stronger in multiplayer than in single player, though I could be wrong.
Cleric
Blessings cost half as much to cast.
=Heal (15 mana?)=
Heal 40? health.
Blessings include:
Heal, Greater Heal, etc.
Protection
Purify?
An incredibly powerful but specialized mage type that requires rare synergy to shine. Many of the most powerful (and rare) spells come with a health cost, and healing becomes incredibly cost effective when used in an AOE. That said, healing is not damage, so you’ll still need to figure out how to kill things.
Blood Curse + Heal is a great early game damage dealer, but can be prohibitively expensive and counterproductive against late game enemies. There’s obvious synergy with summoning and multiplayer.
Witch
Curses cost (-25%?) less to cast
Curses include:
Suffocation
Poison
Bloat
Cloning?
ToDo: What about Freeze, Slow, etc?
A very powerful class in terms of overall DPS, but struggles to kill things instantly. Requires specific and rare synergies to shine. Strongest when it has delaying tactics that buy time to get the curse engine rolling.
Strong synergy with summoning, delaying, curses, and multiplayer.
Gambler
Although this is the weakest mage type in terms of stats, it’s potentially the strongest if you know what spells to look for. Due to how the reroll mechanic works, you actually get +66% spells to choose from, not +25%.
Each time you reroll your spell choices, you get -1 choices to choose from, so the Gambler actually gets a lot more spell choices than the obvious +1 on the tooltip.
Normal Spellmason:
6 Spell choices. 3 + 2 after one reroll + 1 after two rerolls.
Gambler
10 Spell choices. 4 + 3 after one reroll +2 after two rerolls +3 after three rerolls.
How useful this mage type is depends on which spells you are looking for, how well you understand them, and how high of a level you reach. In theory, if you survive long enough, you can obtain every single spell in the game, at which point this mage type becomes a complete dud. By that point you’ll have long since “beaten” the game and found a way to sustainable defeat the post game levels, so said point is a tad moot.
Strong synergy with multiplayer, where friends can help carry you until you can find a gamebreaking spell combo.
Multiplayer
I notice that although all mage types are viable, some are far stronger in the context of teamwork. Some mage types have raw power, which is generally good. Others lack raw general power but more effective reach against specific targets. Lastly, some classes are quite weak unless someone buys them enough time to get the ball rolling.
=Raw Power=
Spellmason – Easiest for newbies, generally great, can allow silly shennanigans if you know what you’re doing.
Timemason – Great for experienced players, keeps turns short, not having time to plan is a less serious problem if you are covered by a buddy who can carefully clean up after you launch your alpha strike.
=Finesse=
Archer – Very good at focus fire and picking off weakened targets. Great in large open levels, struggle in confined levels when fighting foes that ignore LOS.
Far Gazer – Can focus on dangerous minibosses from a safe range, while other mages use their superior firepower on closer and more immediate threats.
=Support=
Necromancer – The most powerful summons (Priest, Summoner) take time to get the ball rolling, so having buddies is helpful. Very powerful in the post-game levels, since I assume summons stick around between waves.
Cleric – It’s a Cleric.
Witch – Like the Necromancer, getting the ball rolling can require some setup.
Gambler – It could be powerful, it could be a dud, but you’ll have to carry some dead weight around for quite some time before you’ll find out which.
Outro
If this screenshot didn’t make it obvious already, I’m still a newbie. I’ve tried to stick to verifiable facts and avoid making assumptions, but I’ve likely made some mistakes. Feel free to comment below.
And that wraps up our share on Spellmasons: