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Zitat

First off, you should be able to recognize some basic things before reading this guide, like what skills the "nukes" are in the trees (FYI, they are the level 30 req. skills that start out with just "Magic Attack Power ##~##" in the description of damage), but other than that hopefully you won't need much prior experience to follow this build.

First off, the basic goal of this build:

90 fire/90 Lit/60 Spear/60 Ice

Stats:
There are 2 major nuking stat distributions. The full int and the 90% magic balance builds. Full int without any items is about 93-94% for most of the game, so there isn't much of a damage loss by going 90%. At around the high 50's 90% will add like 800-1000 extra hp as compared to full int. This is a PvP build. If you think you are going to job or guild/thief and hunter war or duel at all, you should probably go 90%. Most people probably plan to PvP eventually (what else are you gonna do once you're at the level cap and all farmed out?), so this is a very smart option for those people. I am going 90% myself.

Method A:
All int all the way (~93-95% magic balance unaided)

Method B:
90% Magic balance unaided (Probably something like 6-8 int:1 str).

Key Skills:
Fire Imbue
Fire nukes/buffs
Light nukes/buffs
Spear passive
Ice buff

Equipment:
I use garment. The magic defense hit taken going to prot or armor is just too heavy to justify the small phys def increase to me (Just use a shield if you have problems). The move speed is also a must to run away in PvP and the 20% less mana cost keeps you out longer in PvE. You don't really need protector or armor until 58-68 or so (those are the levels where you will be fighting yetis and physical damage monsters in the donwhang cave).

PvP:
USE A SWORD AND SHIELD.
USE A SWORD AND SHIELD.
USE A SWORD AND SHIELD.
And NUKE. Lots.
When somebody comes to you, ghost walk away.

Seriously though, it's fairly simple to be a nuker in PvP. Just keep a watch out for the enemy and when you see an ally go to attack someone, help them out with a nuke (As long as it's not a blader that's gonna knock 'em down). Avoid fighting anyone directly, cause nukers often 1 shot each other, and strength users will be almost impossible to kill 1v1. You can follow up a nuke with a quick lion shout if you think it will kill them.

Leveling:
Int users level extremely fast. If you've only played a str before, you will be amazed. Early on bows may have a slight advantage, but later on (40+) it's hard to beat someone who can kill a mob in 3 seconds max! Nukers are often only limited in their leveling speed by their cooldowns (It's hard to believe, but yes, they kill so fast that they are on the next mob before their nuke is even done cooling down) or a lack of monsters *anywhere* on the screen.

1-29:
Get spear level 20 and level 1 soul spear and ghost spear. These will be your 2 main skills to rape stuff with.
If you feel like farming SP early, go fire imbue + lightning. Lightning you'll need the piercing force buff and grasswalk for sure. The passive is also good. Therefore, if you can't handle that many masteries at once, go lightning imbue until you get some SP and can switch to fire.
30-Level cap:
Now you nuke. And nuke some more. You should kill stuff with either just a nuke or a nuke + ghost spear (this is in the 3X levels) or lion shout (40+ or 45+) or spear throw (This is a *really* good finishing skill because of the high percentage, but it has a long cooldown, so don't count on it for every mob. It will do about twice as much as a lion shout.). If you don't, go to a weaker monster b/c you aren't maximizing your exp.

Skills:
This is divided into two sections. Skills to get before you SP farm and skills afterwards. If you SP farm at 16, get as many as you can as you go. *It is not necessary to SP farm at 16 for this build.* I have farmed maybe 5-10k *total* over the course of 56 levels. I also switched my build as I went (wasting a good bit of sp), so if you follow this guide you shouldn't need to farm much at all.

Skills as you level:
Fire:
Mastery: keep at your level
Fire Force (Imbue)
Fire Nuke book 1 level 1 ONLY
Fire Nuke book 2
Fire Nuke book 3 level 1 ONLY

Lightning:
Mastery: get up to level 50
Piercing Force (up to level 48 – book 3 level 1)
Grass Walk Flow (up to level 45 – book 1 level 12)
Ghost Walk Phantom level 1 ONLY
Lion Shout (up to level 37 – book 2 level 1)
Concentration book 1 level 1 ONLY
Lightning Nuke (up to level 50 - book 2 level 1)
Passive (up to level 50 – level 5)

Spear:
Mastery: get to level 20 or 30 definitely, more if you can afford it
Wolf Bite Spear level 1 ONLY
Dancing Demon Spear level 1 ONLY
Soul Spear level 1 ONLY
Ghost Spear level 1 ONLY
Passive – level 2 or 3 (really good idea to farm a bit to get this up to 60 ASAP. The extra HP is a lifesaver.)
Spear Throw (Level 1 if you can afford spear level 31. This will probably be hard to do right at level 31.)

Skills When SP Farming:
Fire:
Fire Protection
Fire Nuke book 3
Fire Shield
Fire Nuke book 1

Lightning:
Mastery 50 -> Max
Force Piercing Force
Passive level 6
Grass Walk Phantom
Light Nuke Book 2
Grass Walk Speed
Lion Shout Book 3
Concentration

Spear:
Mastery: get to level 60
Passive level 6
Spear Throw (your choice how far you go with it.)

Cold:
Mastery: get to level 60
Guard of Ice
Passive Level 6
Ice Nuke Book 1 level 1
Ice Nuke Book 2 (your choice how far you go with it.)
Frost Nova Woods level 1
Frost Nova Wind/Storm (your choice how far you go with it.)



Bad Skills To Get:
Sword, Bow, or Force:
EVERYTHING. You won't be able to get 90/90/60/60 with these masteries. And who wants to spend money (whether real or in game) to delevel 2% block or 9 attack rating or +100 mana? You don't need any of that very much at all. If you must, you can get level 10 sword and 2% block, but its just gonna cost you later.

Spear:
More than level 1 of ANY spear skill. This is because the improvements that come from leveling these skills are in physical damage, which an Int character *doesn't have.* You shouldn't be using melee skills at all, you should be nuking.

Cold:
Ice Imbue. The damage is TERRIBLE. And with auto-pot the effect isn't gonna do anything. In both PvP and PvE you are focusing on dealing max damage, not defense.
Cold Wave. Need I say more? It's TERRIBLE in PvP AND PvM. In NO situation would you rather use cold wave instead of nuking.
Frost Wall. In PvP the key is MOBILITY. You can't move very well when you are stuck in a block of ice, eh? If you are killing people in it, they'll just run from you.
Ice Nuke book 1 ( > level 1 ). The damage is absolutely pitiful and you only need level 1 to get the nice AOE of book 2. I *really* don't recommend leveling this skill past level 1.

Fire:
Flame Body. You don't melee or use physical spells at ALL, why would this help in any way shape or form?
Fire Wall: See Frost Wall. Only 10x worse.
Fire Nuke book 1: But this was in the farming skills list! Yes, it can go in either place. It's *OK* because the damage goes decently high and the 250% modifier means a fast cast time (pretty dang good in PvP, more useful than lightning book 1 b/c of the high level you can get it to). But it's a *big* SP sink, so I don't recommend it until later.
Fire Passive: See Flame Body.

Lightning:
Lightning Imbue: If you are SP starved, don't level fire at all and go for this. Know that you will have to delevel it eventually though because the damage is less than the Fire Imbue, so there's no reason to get it. Trust me, the effect is worthless. Especially in PvP with auto-pot.
Concentration: Same as with Fire Nuke book 1, this is not a very helpful skill for the SP investment. Book 3 maxed will be maybe 30% more effective than book 1 level 1. The effect is basically negligible (nukes is about the only time you'll notice it). But get it eventually for sure.


((You can get the preceeding skills (in Fire, Lit, Ice, or Spear) only AFTER farming EVERY skill listed in the farming section (besides maybe concentration).))


ALTERNATELY:

Get ZERO Cold (all else the same) and go 60 Sword.

Skills:
Sword:
level 6 passive
-----
The idea behind this is that at level 90 7% block might help you more than the 82 phys defense that you'd get from 60 ice. And knockdown can replace frost nova.

Disclaimer: I am not using this build (the 60 sword), and really the only reason you'd do this is in case you wanted to switch to sword hybrid later. It restricts you to only using a sword/shield or else 60 masteries have gone to waste (bad for leveling). Ice has no such restrictions. Also, as the 7% block improves as compared to the extra physical defense on the way from 70 -> 90, the knockdown will start to deteriorate as compared to frost nova. This is because knockdown is level dependent (notice "50% chance against XX level" in the description). I don't know exactly how much the chance will decrease for each level the character is above you, but skills don't go above 69, so at level 90 thats a 21 level difference.

*Once you have the majority of the other skills listed,* go for knockdown. It can help you get away in the same way that frost nova would. If you are feeling adventurous, go for stab.


That's about it folks! Every skill evaluated in terms of a full Int char. If I left anything out, let me know. Feel free to link to this whenever some n00b starts blabbing on about Ice nukers or some true newbie has some questions about how to build his Int char.


Update (5/22/06): Fleshed out some of the tips throughout the build. Also added alternate stat allocation method. Remember to PM me if you have a question or suggestion!!!!! And vote favorably!

Update (5/30/06) : Removed the unrefundable 0 mastery level references because people have informed me that they *can* delevel their masteries completely. Added a warning to the 60 sword alternate build.