I'm making a provo mage. I'm having a hard time making a certain choice. I'm 100% getting these skills: Music EvalInt Meditation Magery Provo. My problem is deciding on the remaining 2 skills. I want to have enticement for increased provo chance, but I also want either Healing or Spell resist. Which skill should I drop? Is getting enticement even worth it? Can magery completely replace healing?
I'd go with Enticement/Discordance and Wrestling. With 100 Meditation, Magery can definitely replace Healing. I say Wrestling over Resist because you have Magic Reflection to eat up a spell or two that gets to you from a monster while you're trying to provoke it. However without wrestling, you get hit 100% of the time and will get two-hit-killed by a balron for example.
Mine is as follows Magery Resist Spells Meditation Eval Int Musicianship Provocation Hiding I haven't yet worked with this build on this server much - Im still at 80 provocation and havent GM'd yet, so havent gone hunting with this build on this server. However, this is my default "PvE Mage" on every other freeshard Ive played on, and it always works well. Dalavar makes a good point above regarding wrestling, but 1) GM hiding usually always gets me out of trouble, and 2) I can afk a lot more (or swap to another UO screen without fear) with GM hiding than GM wrestle. Ive had plenty of circumstances where magic reflection failed, such as when 2-3 mobs cast on you simultaneously (which is a very realistic situation in deep dungeons). Having GM Resist, combined with magic reflection, usually neutralizes that. I find that its more often I can take damage and flee behind a wall and hide more often than I can take damage and get my provocations off and "wrestle" a balron/dragon/ogre lord/titan/terathan etc. Just my experience... I dont think healing helps a PvE mage at all - the timer is way too long. Healing is great for a PVP mage though, to supplement your potions and spells while you keep fighting. With PvE, macro'ing "greater heal target self" is always better. Use potions for PvE heals when you get in real tough situations. But like I said, its very rare that I cant just duck behind a corner and hide. Also, I dont seem to need to buy potions/kegs for my PvE chars - ogres drop so many damned potions that my PvE chars have an endless supply (at the rate I use them). Same for cure and refresh . So yah, having healing on a PvE mage is a waste of extra utility IMO. But maybe things are different on this shard . Once I get off my lazy butt and train provocation to 100 we shall see!
Aside from a lone tamer, the provocation mage is a pk's standard fare. This is why I suggest the following standard template. evaluate intelligence - finishing stragglers hiding magery meditation musicianship provocation wrestling - reflect > heavy melee/spell disruption/lost recall opportunity [] to further the argument for spell damage reduction for having resisting spells I'd argue inscription in this case would be better Some suggest discordance. I see the point but, if you're hunting targets with it in hopes to secure a successful provocation you'd be better off dropping a few skills and picking up animal lore, animal taming, and veterinary. I normally do not suggest hiding on a dungeon crawler but with a provocation mage it fits well.... and even moreso now that tracking is neutered. Unless it's the wee hours of the morning and you're barely hanging on to consciousness... a provocation mage with hiding should have a very low death by pk count.
I like discord for controlling mob health bars/speeding things up. with eval. I value it's offense over the defense of wrestling, but I can see wrestling too. scribe is really nice the few times it saves your neck, but ehh. I don't like hiding but haven't used it much in post-tracking world. mage med eval resist music provo discord
