[Anchors]

Originally Posted by Rose

Rumor: If you get Arrow Rush/fire spells, you must use a 1441 build to be able to hit anything with it.
Fact: At level 100, choosing a 1441 build over a 1432 build will give you 6 more LK. This will make Arrow Rush, the most inaccurate of a sheep’s skills, hit about 4% more than a 1432 build. Yes, you will notice a slightly more considerable difference if you compare a 1441 build to a 1414 build, but my point still holds. Going 1441 does not benefit arrow rush’s accuracy by that much.

Rumor: 1441 makes you do significantly more damage.
Fact: The LK increase granted by a 1441 gives you a very slim (less than 3%) chance to hit a LK critical at around level 100, which will boost your damage by 50%. Thus, overall, the damage increase that a 1441 build affords you is less than 1.5%, and even this is not consistent enough to matter much in the short run. After you hit higher levels, better equipment will pretty much guarantee that you hit the cap for LK critical chance, making the “more damage” argument pretty much moot. Of course, you do hit more with a 1441 build, although, as I’ve stated before, the increased accuracy is not significant enough to make a considerable difference.

Rumor: 1441 makes you drill much better than a 1432/1423 build.
Fact: When you drill, you will sometimes get an icon above your head telling you that “an item is in this spot” or “there’s no items here.” Having more DA increases the chance that these notifications will appear by 1% per point of DA, which saves you drilling time and drill life in the long run. Of course, you won’t have a higher chance to find items, but the notifications do make a difference. It’s just too bad that 1441 only gives you 6 more DA than a 1432 build and 12 more DA than a 1432 build, so the time that you save is minimal until you get to higher levels (at which time you’ll be able to max out your detection ratio at 100%/90 DA with better gear).

Rumor: 1414 can’t hit anything.
Fact: Mana arrow, your primary skill during your beginner mage career, is one of the most accurate skills in the game. This means that you can hit most monsters that are around your level with great ease. Once you get arrow rush, you will notice a pretty big difference (12% less chance to hit is significant), although you’ll still be able to hit pretty effectively with accurate spells like water and wind, provided that you have a bit of LK from your equipment.

Rumor: 1441 is the only way to go for mages, because it makes leveling much easier in the beginning.
Fact: 1441 and 1432 are virtually identical in the beginning, barring a small increase in accuracy and critical chance for the 1441 build and a pretty significant survivability increase for the 1432 build. However, a 1441 build will need HP equipment once they start leveling in high-damage aggressive maps, while a 1432 build can survive and level up decently with no equips other than LK and MA. Of course, at middle levels, obtaining decent HP equipment is actually rather simple, though it still doesn’t discount the fact that a 1432 build can replace those HP equips with LK and level just as well. The same argument applies to 1423 and 1414 builds.

I'd like to know where you're getting your numbers from regarding critical chance, but I thought you should know:

A magic crit only deals 1.1x normal damage, not 1.5x, so the increase in damage from better crit rate (which caps really early anyway and is dependent on both LK and AC) is even smaller. x_x

Each LK counts for 0.9% in magic hitrates, as I hear it, but even a 1414 will hit 100% in PvM with any spell wearing just a staff and pet that have good LK on it. :3 PvP is another story with all the mages with 300+ LK running around nowadays, but, until a mage is very high level, base LK isn't going to help as much as gear LK anyway.

Good call on the DA point. Base DA almost doesn't even matter after 50 or 65 anyway when you can just put on a DA ult knife weapon for 15+ DA with whatever other DA gear you can get your hands on (DA-comped craft/custom hat for instance).

Regarding the charm stat and HP gear... It almost doesn't matter how much charm you have - unless you add some serious HP with bonus stat points, you'll have to eventually wear HP gear regardless to avoid getting OHKOed (or KOed by mobs at least) by something. What really makes the difference after about 100-120 or so is your base HV (which doesn't get bonuses from even myshop gear until around 100?), which saves you a lot of damage from high-AP monsters such as Lakis or Bugbears. (Of course, once you have stun for your EA anyway, it's not like anything can even get close 83 barring getting spawned on, lag, etc.)

Aside from that, though, nice guide so far! There's only one small suggestion I might make, though, for the water/lightning/dark build - hellfire and wicked flame. Dual DOT (WF, tesla) with movement-stopping stun/glacier might be fun against high-HP/-resist monsters/opponents/whatever.