Weekly WARview : Magus

[Meteorfall]

Welcome readers, to your Weekly WARview ! This week, I'll be looking into the Magus, the Chaos Ranged DPS Career.

In the recent 1.3.0b Patch, AoE was brought down, and the Magus, who uses a lot of AoE DoTs was hit with the nerfbat like a beaver on crack. However, the Havoc tree was almost left untouched (aside from Tzeentch's Firestorm). I myself play as a Magus on the Ironrock server, and while I know the class could of been spared some of the changes it has gone through, I definitely don't believe this career is useless or completely broken as some people think. Anywho, let's get on the main topics :

Lore & Tactics

Those selected by the Dark Gods to receive the ability to cast spells are held in high esteem by the tribesmen of the north, for they have been singled out and granted vast and terrible powers. All manner of Daemons are counted amongst the numbers of the Raven Host, but the Magus uses the power of only one such creature: the arcane and powerful Disc of Tzeentch. He is forever bound to this living platform, and it is utterly ruled by his will. Channeling his dark energies through his Disc, mortal and Daemon achieve potent synergy, leaving only devastation in their wake.

First off, let's talk about the three Mastery Trees the Magus has to offer:

Havoc : The Havoc tree focuses on long-range, single target damage. As far as spells go, speccing into Havoc can net you Perils of the Warp, Bolt of Change (which is, along with the Engineer's Snipe, the longest range spell in the game) and Tzeentch's Firestorm. As far as popularity goes, Havoc is the least-favored build, as it isn't as strong as other careers' single-target specs. Havoc spells deal Elemental damage, and the favored Daemon for this tree is the Pink Horror.

Changing : Changing is the mid-range AoE AND single-target tree. Seed of Chaos, Indigo Fire of Change, and Dissolving Mist are abilities available only to the Changing Magus. Changing was for a long time the most usual spec for any Magus player, with AoE DoTs like Glean Magic or Pandemonium, a skilled Changing Magus would always be near the top of the charts for overall damage. However, with the 1.3.0b changes to AoE, a lot of players have re-specced to either Havoc or Daemonology or a hybrid of two builds, due to the large damage reduction on the main Changing spells. Changing abilities deal Spiritual Damage, and the favored Daemon is the Flamer.

Daemonology : Daemonology is the close range AoE tree. Agonizing Torrent, Aegis of Orange Fire and Chaotic Rift are specific to Daemonology Magi. A Chaotic Rift build used to be pretty common for among Magi players, pulling enemies in and then unleashing close range attacks for large amounts of damage. But with the recent changes to Chaotic Rift, it has become a lot harder to use this ability effectively, and Daemonology Magi are a lot less seen around the Age of Reckoning. Daemonology abilities deal both Spiritual and Elemental damage, and the favored Daemon is the Blue Horror.

As you can see, a Magus has the choice to spec primarily between different ranges and damage types (Single-target, AoE, or both), so playstyles vary a lot depending on which tree(s) a player chooses.


Personal Opinion

As I've said before, I actually play a Havoc-specced Magus, and enjoy it quite a bit. Even though I know I won't be able to inflict massive amounts of damage, my Bolt of Change can catch running players, and my Perils of the Warp is very useful against certain red-haired casters. I do still see a lot of Changing and Daemonology Magi that do tons of damage in scenarios, but personally, I prefer utterly destroying one player than gradually damageing a lot of them.

I do realize that compared to other RDPS classes, Magi are currently underpowered, but I don't consider them bad at all. In fact, I like my Magus just because I don't see as many on the battlefield as I see Sorcs or Bright Wizards. Being able to knockback people with Warping Blast is also pretty entertaining, and Daemonic Infestation is insanely fun to use.

All in all, I agree with those who think Magi could of been less nerfed in the previous patches, but I greatly disagree with those who think Magi are awful and completely useless.

Next Week : Nordenwatch, everybody's favorite scenario.

-WAAAGH Well, Meteorfall.

[Amneork]

The main reason most people are compaliing about the magus is a combination of factors.

First, I think most players aren't terribly comfortable with the fact that a SH or a Sorc can easily out damage and out kill them and typically do it with less work involved. A magus can end up on top of a scenario scoreboard but you will see it happen with less regularity than you do other RDPS classes.

Secondly the mirror comparisons are never ending on both the official and WHA forums therefore the glaring inadequacies between the two "pet mechanic classes" are even more evident and talked about. Just these inconsistencies make up a large part of the Magus discussions, and truth be told a lot of the complaints in this department are valid.

While we are on the topic of mechanics, the Magus and Engineer class mechanics are a little vague to begin with. Our mechanic is having a pet...a pet with not so great DPS and more use dead (or blowing up) than alive. The Engi at least has some class mechanics centering on doing more damage while theya re withing a certain range of a pet where as our are centered around them doing more damage, ot buffing toughness or having more wounds, all in a tree that was greatly affected by the most recent changes in CC.

I think in the eyes of a lot of players, new and old, the magus seems almost to have been thrown together sort of as an afterthought. There is no denying they have a well-designed look, some awesome looking armor sets and some of the best animations in the game (aside from being knocked down). Their lack of any real single target damage, and begging the OP's pardon it is still subpar, and the recent nerfs to their AoE output is causing many to frown on the class as an option, protesting with "Blanketnerf" last names or in the case of some veteran Magi, cancelling subs. The issue here wasn't really that the AoE needed to be nerfed for them as much as the Single Target needed a little proper attention, had Mythic split the difference with a hint that Havoc was getting more attention in a later update I think more Magus would be less angry.

All in all it's a complex class, and in order to really succeed with it you need need to know what you are doing. A lot of casual players will be satisfied with it well into the T3 and then skill progression and damage seem to not scale as well into T4. In all honesty, Magus are not too "casual player" friendly but that doesn't stop the class from being productive int he right hands.

[Yerk]

Main problems with Magus:

- no way to get a burst of spike damage

- hard to hide when your standing on top of a big dish with a 'Hit Me First' sign on you

- the short range of many of the most damaging spells, eg Seed of Chaos

- the long lead in time needed to build up damage

- the very weak pets

Main plus for Magus

- If you can persuade a healer to keep you up you can pour out a large amount of damage

- If opponents, for whatever reason, are not running their effects, the AOE damage can cause real problems for the enemy

- in confined spaces, keeps and BO's, where LOS is limited can do insane damage

- in PvE they are fantastic for helping to bring down large numbers of mobs very quickly

[Amneork]

@Yerk I agree on pretty much every point. Due to the short range I typically run CQ. The pets are an afterthought especially with the CC changes and Instability being a gamble where it used to be an effective out. In regards to the spike damage, it's very limited and even then less than spectacular, you have the option of a potential 3K+ channel for 6 seconds with IFOC (if it crits on all three pulses), a fragile casting Bolt of Change that has the potential of a CQ crit for 1500+ (with a 10s cooldown), or Surge of Insanity which needs again a crit, CQ and/or Surging Power to really spike noticeably. Even then the spike damage isn't even comparable to a Sorc, BW, SH or even SW. Suppression damage and selective focus fire is what the average Magus is going to excel at.

[bishamono]

lol at perils of the warp being usefull for killing bws.
it gets 0 bonus damage from intelligence and cant crit, so after mitigation it'll hit for around maybe a 100, so i doubt the bw will notice it between his explosions which do like 7 times the damage.

also bolt of change CAN be good to kill running players, but with a 3 sec cast time an not that high burst damage if the targetted player even only gets a hot during youre cast time, BoC isnt going to kill him

[Helinin Overextended]

Really have to ask..

You sure you played a Magus?

[purplepoison]

DPS class must have burst.

Yes you can aoe everything and get a decent total dmg in the sc score board but only scratch not hurt.

[Helinin Overextended]

Originally Posted by purplepoison

DPS class must have burst.

Yes you can aoe everything and get a decent total dmg in the sc score board but only scratch not hurt.

lol.....

I still have the screenie that I out DPS Pylon.....

Sidenote: Doing loads of dmg means nothing at all, when you can;t kill anyone.

O...

Here it is...

http://i32.tinypic.com/24lpthh.jpg

[Meteorfall]

Originally Posted by bishamono

lol at perils of the warp being usefull for killing bws.
it gets 0 bonus damage from intelligence and cant crit, so after mitigation it'll hit for around maybe a 100, so i doubt the bw will notice it between his explosions which do like 7 times the damage.

also bolt of change CAN be good to kill running players, but with a 3 sec cast time an not that high burst damage if the targetted player even only gets a hot during youre cast time, BoC isnt going to kill him

About Perils of the Warp, I think of it as an extra way to deal damage when taking on casters, especially when I notice an Archmage is throwing HoTs on everyone, I pop PotW while focusing him. You never know, he may be able to run away with -very- low health and die after casting a HoT on himself. However, what I would like to see is the casting time changed to instant, and possibly a short cooldown on it (3-5s, anyone ?).

My Bolt of Change deals a good amount of damage, especially when it crits (which it does very often with Chaos Unleashed and the BS Crit staff), and I don't have problems finishing off low health players at all with it. It really all depends on how much health the player has left and if BoC does crit or not.

Originally Posted by Helinin Overextended

Really have to ask...

You sure you played a Magus ?

Could you please elaborate, something constructive would be appreciated.

[Roo Stercogburn]

Originally Posted by Meteorfall

Could you please elaborate, something constructive would be appreciated.

I think that the point is that it is a very superficial description of Magus. That said, its fine if taken as a quick overview of playstyle and I see nothing wrong with it.

However, the class in its current state is extremely weak and you are welcome to disagree but you will find yourself very much in the minority.

Generally speaking, the only people that are happy with the class are those that enjoy large scenario scores and don't understand the difference between random DPS and effective DPS, and those that enjoy a few points in Daemonology for some duelling giggles. In every situation the mediocre damage from a Magus is outperformed by a other classes. In 6v6 set groups with the changes to Chaotic Rift there isn't even a reason now to have one taking up a precious group position unless its a friend that has played one all along. If a team was making a set group from scratch these days, a Magus would not be in the team lineup.

Perils of the Warp is widely, and in my opinion correctly, regarded as a 2 second cast that does not justify the time taken to use it in a combat situation since you can apply more damage with other spells in the same amount of time. I did some testing on this back when it was first nerfed as previously I had enjoyed this spell as a reasonable counter to the ginger menace but post-nerf the points were better spent elsewhere and after testing I dropped it like a hot rock.

I applaud the attempt to inject some positive feelings into those that might be looking at the Magus class but it only comes across as very misinformed, or as I said at the start, very superficial.

[Meteorfall]

Originally Posted by Roo Stercogburn

I think that the point is that it is a very superficial description of Magus. That said, its fine if taken as a quick overview of playstyle and I see nothing wrong with it.

However, the class in its current state is extremely weak and you are welcome to disagree but you will find yourself very much in the minority.

Generally speaking, the only people that are happy with the class are those that enjoy large scenario scores and don't understand the difference between random DPS and effective DPS, and those that enjoy a few points in Daemonology for some duelling giggles. In every situation the mediocre damage from a Magus is outperformed by a other classes. In 6v6 set groups with the changes to Chaotic Rift there isn't even a reason now to have one taking up a precious group position unless its a friend that has played one all along. If a team was making a set group from scratch these days, a Magus would not be in the team lineup.

Perils of the Warp is widely, and in my opinion correctly, regarded as a 2 second cast that does not justify the time taken to use it in a combat situation since you can apply more damage with other spells in the same amount of time. I did some testing on this back when it was first nerfed as previously I had enjoyed this spell as a reasonable counter to the ginger menace but post-nerf the points were better spent elsewhere and after testing I dropped it like a hot rock.

I applaud the attempt to inject some positive feelings into those that might be looking at the Magus class but it only comes across as very misinformed, or as I said at the start, very superficial.

As I've said before, I completely agree with the fact Magi are currently consistently weaker than other RDPS Careers. My true intent with this Review (which is why this is superficial, I will be reviewing all 24 classes and cannot delve too deep into every little detail about each career), is to try and limit the huge drama of the Magus being an awful class. It is not -that- bad, it may be underpowered at this time, but leaving or un-subbing because of the Magus being "unplayable" or otherwise is just too much in my opinion.

I personally have fun with my Magus, I may not be able to dish out as much damage as a Bright Wizard or a Sorc, but I still truly enjoy RvR as a Magus. And I know for a fact that I'm not the only one.

[Helinin Overextended]

Originally Posted by Roo Stercogburn

I think that the point is that it is a very superficial description of Magus. That said, its fine if taken as a quick overview of playstyle and I see nothing wrong with it.

However, the class in its current state is extremely weak and you are welcome to disagree but you will find yourself very much in the minority.

Generally speaking, the only people that are happy with the class are those that enjoy large scenario scores and don't understand the difference between random DPS and effective DPS, and those that enjoy a few points in Daemonology for some duelling giggles. In every situation the mediocre damage from a Magus is outperformed by a other classes. In 6v6 set groups with the changes to Chaotic Rift there isn't even a reason now to have one taking up a precious group position unless its a friend that has played one all along. If a team was making a set group from scratch these days, a Magus would not be in the team lineup.

Perils of the Warp is widely, and in my opinion correctly, regarded as a 2 second cast that does not justify the time taken to use it in a combat situation since you can apply more damage with other spells in the same amount of time. I did some testing on this back when it was first nerfed as previously I had enjoyed this spell as a reasonable counter to the ginger menace but post-nerf the points were better spent elsewhere and after testing I dropped it like a hot rock.

I applaud the attempt to inject some positive feelings into those that might be looking at the Magus class but it only comes across as very misinformed, or as I said at the start, very superficial.

Thx you very much.

1 more thing. The best spell that actually let a Magus get kills consistently by finishing off ppl with a little health left, not by luck (due to random DoTs) is this humble little spell.

http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8479

[Meteorfall]

Originally Posted by Helinin Overextended

Thx you very much.

1 more thing. The best spell that actually let a Magus get kills consistently by finishing off ppl with a little health left, not by luck (due to random DoTs) is this humble little spell.

http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8479

But when you need the extra range and extra damage, Bolt of Change is your best friend.

[Helinin Overextended]

Originally Posted by Meteorfall

....................
I personally have fun with my Magus, I may not be able to dish out as much damage as a Bright Wizard or a Sorc, but I still truly enjoy RvR as a Magus. And I know for a fact that I'm not the only one.

Yes, you are not. I'm enjoying myself a lot too in ORvR before I left a mth back.

But if we take a step backwards, we will notice this. We ain;t really that strong of a class at all. Our place can be taken up by other class easily.

The only ability we can bring to the ORvR is sadly Chaotic Rift.

Many of us, and myself refused to be pigeon holed into being a Rift bot.

I tried everything. From getting high crit gears and pumping my Int, to Giving up on Int and went for Toughness, Wounds and using CQ, playing as a melee DPS caster.

Nothing really help at all. Absorb Shields, random Hots, Grp heals, cleanse like abilities, all are a Magus greatest bane, for, we can't eat through them, since our major source of DPS are DoTs.

Thats why so many of us left the game

[Helinin Overextended]

Originally Posted by Meteorfall

But when you need the extra range and extra damage, Bolt of Change is your best friend.

Yes I've done 1.8K crits on a Lv32 SW before. But this spell a few really bad disadvantages.

1) 3 sec cast.

Anything can happen in this 3 seconds. A heal, Absorb Shield, been cast on the target, yourself getting interrupted, etc

2) Doesn't really scale well with Int....

Doombolt dmg without crit...., well, at times it does more then I ever dreamed possible.

Bolt of Change can only be really useful if, it also bypass some resistance of the target.

OR

Lowered to 2seconds.

Then again the Engineer community will be up in arms and setting the nearest magus community on fire.